


Deep Water

by My_Trex_has_fleas



Series: Late Night Double Feature Picture Show [2]
Category: Jaws (Movies), Poldark - All Media Types, Return to Treasure Island (TV 1996), Treasure Island & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amity Island, Animal Attack, Blood and Gore, Boats, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Jaws AU, M/M, shark attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-08 03:04:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 48,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11072748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Trex_has_fleas/pseuds/My_Trex_has_fleas
Summary: The first in my Late Night Double Feature series. All the films I love done with my favourite boys.A DarkHawk retelling of Jaws as a birthday present for my lovely lady, Gem. I love you loads!!!!Also to my wife Maureen for all her endless support and love and screaming at me about rent boys in glasses. You are my rock and I don't know how I survived before without you.





	1. Late Night Skinny Dipping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miss_Gemmie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Gemmie/gifts), [farraige25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/farraige25/gifts).



The house was just off the beach, surrounded by seagrass and dunes and isolated enough for the noise from the party to be out of earshot of the neighbours, such as they were. It was the whole reason the Pentworths had chosen it for their summer vacation. Now they were hosting an interesting gathering, full of New York media people and artists and performers and things were getting a little loud and a little wild. Thankfully, the eight bedrooms would probably be more than enough for the guests, several of whom had already disappeared upstairs with very willing partners. 

Clare was bored. She’d already pretty much assessed all the men there and dismissed them as either too old, too out of shape or not rich enough. She knew that at forty-four she was pushing the limits herself, but she was beautiful and in excellent shape from a daily regime of Ashtanga yoga and living off the alimony from her second divorce. She was a catch really.

Now she leaned against the wall of the outdoor deck and watched as the group at the table played a game of cocaine fuelled Monopoly and sighed to herself. The party was supposed to be a place to find some easy temporary fun. All she’d found was a bottle of Tanqueray that she’d more or less emptied. 

‘Hi.’ A man’s voice cut through her melancholy thoughts and she turned to look at him. His name was Oliver, if she remembered correctly, a British expat that Dave Pentworth’s gallery represented. ‘You look rather lonely over here by yourself.’

‘I’m not.’ Clare stated and then took another sip of her gin while studying him over the rim of her glass. With enough alcohol in her to sink a small boat, he was starting to not look too bad. He had little steel rimmed glasses and a sweet hopeful face and she decided to take pity on him. ‘Not now that you’re here to keep me company.’ She gave him a perfect smile, courtesy of her orthodontist, and he lapped it up, beaming as he refilled her glass and invited her to go for a stroll down on the beach. 

The moon was out, full and lighting up the line of weathered pickets that led down from the house to the stretch of sand and the perfectly flat sea beyond. Clare discarded her now empty glass halfway down and turned to Oliver with a wicked grin. 

‘Fancy a swim?’ she asked and he looked at her like she was crazy. Dave always joked how horrified Brits were about swimming out of season and she found it very funny. Of course it was May, so the water wouldn’t be quite that cold and she had grown up in Connecticut and so cold water was a formative part of her childhood experience. 

‘I don’t think so?’ Oliver sounded hesitant. ‘Isn’t it dangerous to swim at night?’

‘Scaredy-cat.’ Clare giggled and then did what she thought was a seductive wiggle and nearly fell over. Perhaps she was a little drunker than she’d thought. She smiled at Oliver and turned and started running down towards the water, merrily flinging her blouse and then her bra behind her as she went. 

That had gotten Oliver’s attention and he was in pursuit but it seemed that he was night blind and he was making considerably slower progress. Clare ignored him, shimmying out of her skirt and panties and making the final dash to the tide line and then crashing into the water, waiting until she was thigh deep before diving right in and striking out, her freestyle stroke strong and efficient from years of swimming team practice while she was at college. 

She turned once to tread water, now out beyond where she could stand, and looked back at the beach. The lights from the house were bright and backlit the figure wrestling with his clothes on the sand. 

‘Come on!’ she shouted, waving one hand over her head. ‘The water’s fine!’ She snickered at her own joke and then started to swim more lazily, feeling the slight tug of the tide below her. The figure of the beach seemed to give up and sit down and then slump over, obviously succumbing to alcohol. 

Clare turned over onto her back and let herself drift. The water was deliciously cool on her skin, and she closed her eyes and smiled as the warm fuzziness in her head cleared out all thoughts she’d had before. 

The bump took her by complete surprise.

It was hard enough to lurch her out of the water and she spluttered and righted herself, her mind racing to try and process what had just happened. She peered around her at the light spangled surface of the water but saw nothing. Now a deep rooted fear, something primal that twisted in her belly, took hold of her and she started to swim for the beach.  
She was about a hundred yards out when the attack happened. The impact was what Clare imagined being hit by a car might feel like. It knocked her over and dragged her under, her scream lost in a swirl of bubbles as she frantically tried to swim for the surface and air. Her head broke through but even as she was drawing in breath to scream again, something clamped around her left thigh, a massive pressure that came with surprisingly little pain. There was a vicious shake, and Clare went under again, striking out with her hands and feeling rough skin before she was suddenly released. 

She came up coughing and sobbing as she thrashed around and felt for her leg. Her fingers encountered nothing but a pulpy mass where her thigh should have been, her own blood a warm stream over her skin, and that was when the final strike came, the vicelike thing closing around her hips, and she screamed as she felt her bones break, her voice abruptly cut off as she disappeared under the water for the final time. 

On the beach, Oliver stirred briefly, frowning as he tried to focus. He thought he’d heard someone crying out but there was nothing now and he succumbed to the alcohol and slept.

************

The sun came blazing through the thin curtains and Ross cursed and turned over. It was already hot, the summer sunshine making the sheet stick to him. He could vaguely hear the sound of the landline in the kitchen ringing and that made him sit up and pay attention. Only the station called him on that, Prudie being a creature of another time and refusing to use his cell number. 

‘Fuck.’ He yawned and sat up, swinging his feet over the side as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. Season was starting to kick in and he’d had a late shift the night before. Because it was summer, the station officers that lived permanently on the island were running double shifts until the holiday crew started. Dwight Enys, his senior deputy, was on the early shift. He was an experienced and competent officer and if he was making Prudie call Ross in, then something serious must have happened. 

‘Ross!’ Demelza’s voice came from downstairs. ‘Prudie’s on the phone!’

Ross sighed. He’d only moved to Amity after he’d had a very close encounter with a suspect while still a detective in New York and almost gotten himself killed. Thankfully a bullet hole in the abdomen and a long scar down the left side of his face had been the worst of it, but it had made Ross change his mind about Elizabeth’s suggestion that they take themselves and the kids and move to Amity. They had sat down, her and Demelza and himself and they’d all decided that it was a good idea. Even though Ross was technically the outsider in the relationship, they had been insistent that he come with them.

Elizabeth had grown up on Amity before coming to New York where she’d met Demelza at college, and they had in turn had met Ross through some mutual friends. He’d been best man at their wedding and the biological father of the two children they all co-parented and he loved them like the sisters he’d never had.

It had been Demelza’s idea to form their little family unit. Ross’ job as a detective had meant long hours, which were not very conducive to long term relationships, and she and Elizabeth had wanted someone that they knew personally and who would be interested in being a father and not just a sperm donor. The whole process had been very clinical but it had presented them with Jeremy, aged eight, and Isabella, aged three, and it all seemed to work very well. Demelza and Elizabeth both worked from home as an artist and interior designer respectively so they were far more hands on with the kids than Ross was, while he was able to give them a break when needed. 

Now he was the chief of Amity’s small police force and adapting very nicely to a life where the worst thing to happen was usually a bunch of drunk or stoned spring breakers causing shit. Amity had a reputation for being the safest island on the eastern seaboard with not a single murder for twenty-five years. 

He stumbled from his bed, grabbing the navy Amity PD t-shirt from the footboard and pulling it on. He opened his door and stuck his head out, just in time for two small bodies to run past with cries of ‘Hi Daddy!’ as Jem and Izzy galloped downstairs. 

‘Christ.’ he muttered, turning to see Elizabeth grinning at him. ‘Where do they get the energy?’

‘Ross!’ Demelza was now yelling. ‘Hurry the fuck up!’

‘Sounds urgent.’ Elizabeth laughed as she walked past him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘Morning, by the way.’

Ross huffed and followed her down. In the kitchen they found Demelza chopping bananas and putting them on top of muesli and natural yogurt. She nodded at the receiver lying on the counter and Ross went to take the call, stepping over a sleeping Garrick who’d decided it was too hot to dog. 

‘Prudie?’ He could hear he still sounded a little sleep rough and cleared his throat. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Dwight called in a missing person, Chief.’ Prudie replied. ‘He wants some help.’

‘Why?’ Ross frowned. ‘A missing person is not that big a deal.’

‘It’s one of the Pentworth’s party guests.’ Prudie said the word guest with the same intonation she might have used to say crack addict. ‘They are very concerned, apparently.’

‘Shit.’ Ross leaned his head against the kitchen cupboard in front of him. A soft touch at his elbow made him turn to see Demelza brandishing a cup of black coffee at him and he took it and sipped gratefully, the caffeine starting to work its way through his system. ‘All right, let me get dressed and I’ll be right out there.’

‘Thank you, Chief.’ Prudie replied and hung up. 

‘There’s a problem.’ Elizabeth asked, now leaning against the counter with Demelza with one arm around her wife’s slender waist. 

‘Pentworths have lost a party guest.’ Ross explained. ‘Dwight wants me to get out there. He’s probably being yelled at.’

Demelza snorted into her mug. 

‘Whoever it is was probably drunk.’ she said. ‘Ten bucks says they wandered into the ocean and drowned.’

‘Well, if they did they’ll more than likely resurface in a couple of days.’ Ross took his coffee and started for the stairs. ‘What are you lot doing today?’

‘We thought we’d go into town after breakfast, then maybe a bike ride to the lighthouse.’ Elizabeth said. ‘Get rid of some of that energy.’ She grinned at Ross. 

‘I’ll see you later then.’ Ross was already plotting out his day. A missing person case was a ball ache with the paperwork, but once he’d subdued the Pentworths he could hand that part back to Dwight. He got back to his room and took a shower, shaved and got dressed in a clean pair of khaki uniform pants and white t-shirt, pulling on the khaki long sleeved shirt with the Amity PD insignia on the sleeve. He put on his workboots and laced them securely, took his .45 and holster from where it hung over the head of his bed and attached them to his belt before threading it through the loops of his pants and securing it. The final touch was his watch, phone and wallet before he went back downstairs, rolling up his sleeves and clipping his sheriff’s badge to his chest. 

Demelza saw him off at the door with a lunch tin and a kiss from Izzy, her chubby hands on either side of Ross’ face. Ross smiled and bumped her nose with his.

‘I’ll see you later, baby girl.’ he said and Izzy regarded him with that serious expression only three year-olds were capable of. 

‘Bye Daddy.’ She waved by opening and closing her hand as he opened the front door. 

‘We’ll try and swing by the station after lunch.’ Dem called after him and Ross waved over his shoulder as he walked through the front yard to his police truck. Elizabeth and Jem were on the swing and they yelled goodbye as he got in and pulled down the visor to catch his sunglasses as they fell out of their hiding place, then pulled out of the drive, turning west and heading for the side of the island the Pentworths lived on. 

It was a forty-five minute drive along roads that were not as well kept as people would have believed for such an upmarket vacation spot, but a lot of people were drawn to Amity for its yesteryear charm and the fact that it was nowhere as developed as neighbouring Martha’s Vineyard. The Pentworths were out-of-towners, booked in for a six week stay in the Crawford house. It was one of the more expensive properties and also one that Elizabeth had decorated in minimalist seaside chic the previous season. 

Dwight’s truck was parked next to a couple of very expensive looking SUVs and Ross had to settle for the roadside and then walk down to the house. He rang the bell and a few moments later, the door was opened by a dark haired woman who identified herself as Maggie Pentworth. She led him through to a long open plan room with extensive doors that led out onto a deck. He could see Dwight on the other side, notebook in hand and speaking to a man that Ross assumed was Mr Pentworth.

He went through the open section and they turned to look at him. Ross couldn’t help feeling a little amused at how Dwight’s nose was already red and peeling a little. 

‘Morning, Chief.’ he said and nodded at the man. ‘This is David Pentworth.’

‘Sir.’ Ross shook Pentworth’s hand. ‘I believe we have a missing person?’

Pentworth nodded. 

‘Her name’s Clare Monaghan.’ He looked concerned. ‘She’s a friend of a colleague and is supposed to be staying with us for the weekend.’

‘And how long has she been unaccounted for?’ Ross asked, getting the subtlest of eye rolls from Dwight. 

‘Since last night.’ Pentworth replied. ‘Oliver was the last person to see her. He said they were going swimming, but he passed out on the beach. He found her things on his walk back and then checked if she’d returned but she hasn’t.’

‘Did he bring them with him?’ Ross looked at Dwight.'

‘I was going down to check the beach when you got here.’ Dwight’s blue eyes were twinkling. Ross knew that he was all too glad to get away and leave Ross to deal with what he called the ‘city folks’ with a very derisive tone in his voice. 

‘You do that.’ Ross said and Dwight grinned and jogged down the steps and started making his way towards the beach. 

‘It’s most unlike her to do something like this.’ That was Maggie, coming through the door. ‘She’s not exactly the flighty type.’

‘Was she drinking last night?’ Ross watched them exchange glances.

‘We all were.’ Pentworth confessed. ‘Things were a little…exuberant.’ He looked very uncomfortable and Ross knew there was more to the story.

‘Sir, I’m only here in connection with a missing person investigation.’ he assured him. ‘I have no interest in your extracurricular activities unless they were responsible for Ms Monaghan’s disappearance.’

‘Well, there was a little chemical enhancement available as well.’ Pentworth said. ‘Clare was partaking of that too.’

‘Would you describe her as impaired?’ Ross fixed them both with a look and they shrugged. 

‘Clare can usually hold her drink quite well.’ Maggie replied. ‘This really surprises me.’

‘Yeah, well. Sometimes you go swimming, get into trouble and your faculties aren’t always sharp enough to get you out of the situation you find yourself in.’ Ross looked out to the sea. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened.’

‘You really think she’s…’ Maggie looked stricken. ‘That she might have drowned?’

‘I think it’s a distinct possibility.’ Ross confirmed. ‘I will need some personal information for her if you have it.’

‘Her purse is still upstairs. I’ll get it.’ Maggie went inside and Pentworth heaved a sigh. 

‘Where can I find the man she was with?’ Ross asked and he looked up at the house. 

‘He’s still sleeping it off.’ he explained. ‘I could go wake him.’

‘That might be a good idea.’ Ross said. ‘I’ll need a statement from him and you and Mrs Pentworth as well.’ He was about to give instructions on coming to the station when a strident note split the air. It was Dwight’s police whistle and it sounded like he was blowing it fit to make his lungs burst.

‘What the hell…’ Ross took off, jumping down from the deck and sprinting along the line of pickets that led down and over a dune to the sea. Pentworth was behind him, moving quickly for a middle aged man. 

They got to the shoreline and Ross saw that Dwight was on his knees about a hundred yards down from where there was a wash of debris from that morning’s tide. He was bent double and that alarmed Ross enough that he threw out an arm and stopped Pentworth in his tracks. 

‘Stay here.’ he ordered and slowed his pace, walking down the hard packed sand until he was in close enough proximity to see that Dwight was puking onto the sand, the heaving sounds as he vomited up his breakfast turning Ross’ own stomach.

He considered himself to be battle hardened. He’d done his beat time on the New York streets and he’d seen some terrible things. Even so, the thing that lay a few feet from where Dwight was now staggering to his feet and wiping his mouth was something he fervently wished he’d never have to see again. 

What was left of Clare Monaghan had that waxy pale quality from being in the water overnight. Whatever had killed her had severed her body at the waist, most of the internal organs gone. Her right arm had been torn off at the elbow and the left was little more than bare bone and shredded flesh. Her face was the only thing more or less intact, although the fish had had a good go at her lips and eyelids. 

‘Jesus Christ.’ He took a shuddering breath in. ‘Well, I think it’s safe to say that she didn’t drown.’

Dwight made a choked off sound that might have been a laugh. 

‘I’ll call it in.’ He took his radio from his belt and started relaying the information to Prudie, walking down the beach and away from the horror at Ross’ feet. Ross looked back down and felt a horrible churning in his stomach. All his instincts were telling him this was not going to be a smooth summer.


	2. Beach Closed Sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The immediate fallout of the Monaghan attack turns into a conflict.

The coroner had the exact same reaction as Dwight so Ross ended up having to put on a pair of gloves and put the remains of Clare Monaghan in what looked suspiciously like a plastic coolbox. She would be taken to the tiny medical practice that doubled as the coroner’s office and stored in the fridge there until funeral arrangements could be arranged.

‘So, any ideas?’ he asked as Dr Trelawney shut the back of the truck and shook his head. 

‘Boat propeller, maybe?’ He looked positively green. ‘I have never seen anything like it.’

‘All right. Let me know as soon as you come up with something.’ Ross instructed and walked to the truck. Dwight was waiting for him, the corners of his mouth turned down. 

‘I have a theory.’ he said. ‘But you’re not going to like it.’

‘What?’ Ross was immediately suspicious. Dwight had a rather overactive imagination.

‘I think it was a shark.’ Dwight stated. ‘I was watching a documentary with Caroline the other night and they said that the numbers of Great Whites off the eastern seaboard has been climbing steadily since they made the harbour seal a protected species.’

‘There hasn’t been a reported shark attack off Amity in the entire history of the island.’ Ross pointed out. ‘I doubt that’s the cause.’

‘Maybe.’ Dwight didn’t look convinced. ‘Sorry I had to get you out of bed.’ 

‘Not a problem.’ Ross assured him. ‘How is Caroline?’

‘Too wide to fit through the door and furious.’ Dwight chuckled. ‘She just wants the damn kid to come out.’

‘Dem and Liz said they’d probably pop by after lunch with the kids.’ Ross told him. ‘I’ll send them in her direction with cake.’

‘Good idea.’ Dwight smiled. ‘She’s all about the cake. You going back to the station?’

‘Might as well.’ Ross checked his watch. ‘I’ll get on notifying the next of kin. You need to take the Pentworth’s statements and speak to that Oliver person she was with last night.’

‘Will do.’ Dwight went back to the house and Ross climbed into his truck. There was a nagging need in the back of his head and he gave in and reached into the glove compartment for the pack of cigarettes he had stashed there. He’d been a lifelong smoker, but he was banned from smoking in the house or around the kids so he had to do it here. 

Ross shook one out and lit it and then started the truck. He took the coast road all the way round to the town, which nestled in the main cove on the northern shore of the island. The town itself was quaint, harking back to earlier days with its white clapboard buildings and single lane streets. He drove to the station, situated on the main crossroads, and pulled in to drive around the building and park in the lot out back. 

The station was a small single storey converted house. Ross’ office was at the back of the building and he stopped off there first. As he was checking his emails, the phone rang. It was Trelawney.

‘I’ve had a look at our victim.’ He sounded troubled. ‘And I’m no expert but I think I have to amend my initial assessment.’

‘To?’ Ross stopped mid key stroke. 

‘I think we have a shark attack on our hands.’ Trelawney said and Ross’ heart sank. 

‘Okay.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose, mind racing through what he needed to do next. ‘Is this a problem?’

‘Quite possibly.’ Trelawney mused. ‘Perhaps some preventative measures would not go amiss.

‘Right. Thanks. Keep me posted.’ Ross put down the phone and got up immediately. He strode through to the main office where Prudie had her desk. She was in the middle of an apple Danish and gave him a surprised look at the purposeful way he was coming towards her desk. 

‘Chief?’ Her face asked the question. 

‘Get Dwight on the horn and tell him to get his ass back here.’ Ross instructed. ‘Tell him he was right. And where are the beach closure signs?’

‘We don't have any.’ Prudie looked very confused.

‘Dammit.’ Ross huffed. He left via the front door, neatly dodging a couple of people as he went into Main Street and headed for the general store.

When he got inside, he heard one of the locals complaining to Bill Manderley about the lack of beach umbrellas in stock and ignored the following protests as he searched out the stationary section, grabbing posts, boards two pots of paint and brushes, knocking over the pot containing them and swearing loudly enough to make the people arguing give him a startled look. He handed over the goods at the counter and Bill stared at his purchases as he rung them up. 

‘You doing an art project, Chief?’ he asked and Ross snorted. 

‘I wish.’ he replied, gathering everything up and beating a quick retreat back to the station. Dwight came in from the back just as he came in from the front and he looked far more worried than he had that morning. Ross unloaded the things he’d bought into his arms. 

‘We need signs for all the swimming beaches.’ He watched Dwight and Prudie look at each other. ‘Beaches closed until further notice by order of the Amity PD. Let Prudie do the printing.’

‘Why? What’s the matter with my printing?’ Dwight sounded slightly offended and Ross gave him a stern look. 

‘Let Prudie do the printing.’ he repeated. ‘I’m going to go chase down Warleggan. Prudie, I want a list of every damn water based activity we’ve got planned for this weekend.’

‘All right.’ Prudie was already on the phone. 

Ross went back out again, scanning the streets. It was already busy, the early crowds filling the streets and bringing much needed summer revenue. He spotted the man he wanted down the street and loped across the road, holding up one hand to stop traffic. Thankfully, it seemed that Warleggan was also looking for him. 

‘Ross.’ He looked decidedly unimpressed. ‘What’s this I hear about a shark attack?’ He hissed the last two words to avoid being overheard. ‘Trelawney just called me.’

‘News travels fast.’ Ross frowned. ‘It happened last night.’

‘He thought I needed to know.’ Warleggan had that annoyingly chastening tone that he took with anyone he thought wasn’t doing what he wanted. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t call me.’

‘I have other concerns right now, George.’ Ross was not cowed by Warleggan’s arrogance. He had dealt with tougher guys than him in New York and wasn’t in the least bit intimidated. ‘We can talk about this back at your office, if you like. Take this off the street.’ He gave the people around them a meaningful look. 

George opened his mouth to rebut but was cut off by a breathless Dwight calling Ross as he ran down the street. 

‘Chief!’ He stopped when he got to them, blowing hard. ‘Prudie sent me to come tell you there’s a bunch of Scouts doing their swim badges up out at the creek. ‘

‘Goddammit.’ Ross turned to Warleggan. ‘When I get back.’ He took off after Dwight without so much as a backward glance. At the station he went right to his truck and then peeled out of the parking lot, startling several seagulls and a couple of elderly ladies. 

He drove like hell for the creek, nearly falling out of his truck in his rush to get to the bank. The Scouts were run by a couple, Anne Bonney and Flint McGraw and he found Anne standing on the bank observing while Flint could be seen following the children swimming in a small dinghy and shouting encouragement. 

‘Chief.’ Anne’s face was split in a wide smile. ‘How are you this morning?’

‘We have a situation.’ Ross said to her. ‘I need those kids back in now.’

Anne’s face changed, now full of worry. True to her pragmatic nature, she didn’t ask questions, just lifted her walkie talkie and radioed her husband. 

‘Flint, I’m with the Chief.’ Her voice was perfectly calm. ‘He needs you to bring them in.’

‘They’re only halfway to the buoy.’ Flint protested and Ross took the radio from Anne. 

‘Flint this is an emergency.’ He saw how Flint turned to look at him. ‘Turn them around and get them back here.’

He saw how Flint shouted to the children and then they all started swimming for the bank. Ross’ heart was in his mouth the whole time, but thankfully all of them made it back without incident. Anne took them off to get changed and then returned. 

‘What was all that about?’ she asked as Flint came up from dragging the dinghy ashore. 

‘We had a shark attack last night.’ Ross explained. ‘I’ve closed the beaches temporarily until we can better assess the situation.’

‘Oh my God.’ Anne’s dark eyes went wide. ‘That sounds terrible.’

‘The victim was an out-of-towner.’ Ross said. ‘There is going to be quite a lot of heat over this, I think. Just make sure they don’t go back in the water until my say so.’

‘How long will that be?’ Flint asked and Ross shrugged. 

‘I have no idea.’ He looked out at the water. ‘I am going back to talk to Warleggan.’

‘This will have a huge impact on the weekend.’ Flint gave Anne a quick glance. ‘George is not going to like you keeping people out of the water.’

‘He’ll have to.’ Ross was stern. ‘I don’t want another fatality on my watch.’ He said goodbye and jogged back to the car. As he did, his cell rang and he answered it. 

‘What?’ He was brusque, his own fears starting to make him snappish. 

‘You better get back here, Chief.’ Dwight warned. ‘The mayor has gone apeshit and he’s refusing to let me put up the signs.’

‘What?’ Ross was livid. ‘He can’t go against my authority.’

‘He says that you need some sort of directive from his office and that he’s not giving it.’ Dwight sounded apologetic, no doubt responding to the anger he could hear in Ross’ voice. ‘Some sort of special order.’

‘Tell him that I am on my way.’ Ross threw the truck door open. ‘Fuck this. He might be willing to lay the island out like an all you can eat buffet but I am most definitely not.’ He hung up and started the engine, grumbling about being dragged from pillar to post. 

**********

Demelza stretched out her legs and watched Jem playing with the other kids his age down at the water’s edge. It was still a little cold for him though and he retreated as the others splashed around. Next to her, Elizabeth had Izzy on her lap, dandling the three year old and making faces at her to make Izzy laugh. 

‘It’s such a lovely day.’ she said. ‘Not too hot and not too cold.’

‘Yeah.’ Demelza dug her toes into the sand. ‘It’s a pity Ross went into work.’

‘So.’ Elizabeth sounded deliberately casual. ‘I made a few calls yesterday.’ She grinned at Demelza. ‘Mary’s bringing her brother with this summer. They’re renting the Greys’ place.’

‘Isn’t he super boring though?’ Demelza asked. ‘Ross will never go for that.’

‘He might if he’s desperate enough.’ Elizabeth laughed. ‘The last time he got laid was that long weekend to New York and that was over a year ago.’

‘He’ll never just hook up with some random stranger.’ Demelza pointed out. ‘You know what he’s like.’

‘I know that he’s thirty-three and single.’ Elizabeth retorted. ‘He needs someone. Someone who’ll put up with his eccentricities and fuck him silly.’ She took Demelza’s hand and kissed the back of it. ‘Like you do with me.’

‘Hmmm.’ Demelza leaned in and kissed her. ‘I just got lucky.’

***********

Warleggan was in his office when Ross got back. He had Trelawney with him and the coroner looked sheepish.

‘Warleggan started to speak but Ross cut him off, his temper now in full sail. 

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded and Warleggan was immediately on the defensive. 

‘What’s best for this town.’ He narrowed his eyes at Ross. ‘Do you realise that what you are doing could cause a full scale panic?’

‘All I am doing is closing the beaches.’ Ross snapped. ‘I haven’t said why or given any indication that a shark attack is involved. You can’t go over my head on this, George. I have jurisdiction.’

‘Only with written confirmation of an attack and the proof that it constitutes enough of a threat to close the beaches.’ Warleggan bit back. ‘And Dr Trelawney has just informed me that he cannot be one hundred percent sure that it is a shark attack.’

‘That’s horseshit.’ Ross was getting angrier by the second. ‘You told me that is was!’

‘I know, but I’m not an expert.’ Trelawney protested. ‘It could have been a boat propeller.’

‘So what?’ Ross glared at Warleggan. ‘We just serve everybody up as lunch?’

‘No.’ Warleggan was adamant. ‘What we do is get an expert out here to examine the remains. If they confirm it’s a shark attack, then we can close the beaches until the threat has been deemed to have passed.’

‘But it’s Independence Day weekend.’ Ross protested. ‘We’ll never get someone here in time.’

‘I am sure that you’ll find this is all a mountain out of a molehill, Ross.’ Warleggan insisted. ‘Dr Trelawney is not happy to sign off on the coroner’s report till then anyway, so you’ll just have to be vigilant.’ He stood up and smoothed down his tie. ‘I think you’ll find that this is the correct tack to take. Good day.’ He left, Trelawney following and not meeting Ross’ eyes as he left the office. 

Ross stood, grinding his teeth in anger until Dwight popped his head around the corner. 

‘You okay?’ he asked and Ross huffed and grabbed his things. 

‘I’m going to the beach.’ he announced. ‘Seeing as how there’s no actual threat according to Warleggan. I’m sure you and Prudie can handle things. Jud’s coming in at four.’

‘Sure thing, Boss.’ Dwight looked unhappy. ‘But I hope you won’t mind that I’m telling Caroline not to go swimming.’

‘I think that’s wise.’ Ross said and stormed out the back door. 

**********

Lena Hands rubbed sun block over her son’s back and then dabbed a blob on his nose. Israel looked back at her giggling. He was twelve, small for his age and with overlarge teeth that she prayed he would grow into. 

‘Can I take the raft?’ He looked longingly at the piece of bright yellow inflatable plastic next to him. 

‘All right.’ Lena said. ‘But only for another half hour, then we have to go.’ 

‘Sure.’ He got up, grinning broadly and grabbed the raft, tucking it under one arm and running down to the water. Lena watched him go with a smile and then settled back under the umbrella with her Jackie Collins, smiling as he stopped to pat a black lab who was chasing a stick its owner was throwing into the water for it to retrieve before launching himself onto the small waves.

She glanced up once to see Chief Poldark stalking down the beach with a face like thunder to where Demelza and Elizabeth were sitting with their daughter. Lena had been somewhat bemused by their living arrangement until someone had pointed out that Demelza and Elizabeth were lesbians and Ross was gay. That had made a mite more sense, but it still struck her as odd even if their kids seemed happy. She watched as the little boy ran up the beach and into his father’s arms, Ross swinging him up and around before setting him down again to go play with his friends. He spoke to the women for a few minutes and then walked back to the truck. 

Lena went back to her book.

***********

Ross got changed into the t-shirt and shorts he kept in the truck, chucking his boots and uniform in the back. 

He trudged back to where Elizabeth and Demelza were sitting and took up residence on one of the deck chairs with Izzy in his lap. Demelza was now kneeling behind Elizabeth, massaging her shoulders.

‘You should just tell him where to get off.’ she said. ‘He’s an asshole.’

‘He’s also the mayor, Dem.’ Ross sighed. ‘And therefore kind of my boss.’

‘Nonsense.’ Demelza snorted. ‘The town council employs you, not him.’ She was keeping a watchful eye on Jeremy now that she knew the reason for the morning call. 

‘I can’t believe it though.’ Elizabeth shivered. ‘That’s so terrible.’

‘I’ve left Dwight to call the family.’ Ross said. ‘He’s much better at that than me, anyway.’ He dug in the cool bag and brought out a soda, cracking the top and taking a long pull. 

‘Shit.’ Elizabeth was sympathetic. ‘That poor family.’

‘Well, now Trelawney is backtracking.’ Ross muttered. ‘He’s being ridden roughshod over by town interest until I get an expert opinion. Like I’m going to find one of those at short notice.’

‘Well, they do have a point.’ Demelza said. ‘Just playing devil’s advocate here, but maybe you should try and track someone down.’

‘On the first of July?’ Ross was incredulous. ‘Nobody’s going to come out here.’

‘You should try the Oceanographic Institute.’ Elizabeth said. Hand me my phone, babe.’ This was to Demelza, who took her phone out her bag and handed it over. Elizabeth tapped away on the browser for a moment and then put in a number and dialled. She held the phone out to Ross. 

‘It’s ringing.’ she said, smug at her own research prowess.

‘What do I say?’ Ross asked, taken aback when it was answered in about three rings. ‘Hi, yes I wander if you can help me. I need to speak to someone about a possible shark attack.’ He listened politely as the receptionist spoke and then grinned. ‘Yes, that would be perfect. Tell Dr Hawkins I’ll expect his call.’ He hung up and smiled at them. ‘Well, I stand corrected. There is in fact a shark expert on call and he’ll be calling me back later.’

‘Is that Dr Hawkins?’ Demelza was giggling. ‘He sounds like a stuffy emeritus in a tweed suit.’

Ross had to grin at that. 

‘Well the receptionist said we lucked out. He’s top of his field, which I assume to be sharks.’ He sat back, repositioning Izzy so she wasn’t squashing his balls. ‘How does someone even go into that?’

‘Too many viewings of Jaws?’ Demelza laughed. 

‘Maybe.’ Ross sighed and sipped his drink. He looked out at the people in the water and grimaced. ‘I feel like I should tell them to all get out.’

‘Well don’t.’ Elizabeth reprimanded. ‘We need your paycheck. You have children to feed.’

I know.’ Ross lifted Izzy up and she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, her dark curls just like his getting in his face. Ross blew them out the way and that allowed him to look back out at the sea again. His eyes fixed on a small boy at the back of the group of swimmers, a little further out than anyone else. 

He was momentarily distracted by a young man he didn’t recognise moving past his line of sight, calling for his dog. As he moved on, Ross saw something that made him freeze, his stomach twisting in knots. It looked like a huge pair of flippers was turning over in the water and then the small boy and the raft vanished from sight, only to come up as second later as a terrible high pitched scream filled the air. 

He was on his feet in a flash, almost throwing Izzy at Elizabeth before sprinting down the beach and into the water without a second thought. Around him, the swimmers were now a panicked mass. They thrashed around screaming as they all tried to get away and completely impeded him from getting anywhere. By the time everyone was out, Ross was left thigh deep in the water and the child and raft were gone. Only a deep red swirl in the water testified to where the boy had been. 

Ross was rooted to the spot, staring at the water until Demelza’s frantic voice roused him. She was at the water’s edge, Jeremy in her arms. 

‘Ross, get the hell out!’ she pleaded and he turned and waded back to shore. 

‘Get on the phone and call the station.’ he instructed, going to check on the other swimmers. 

In the midst of the chaos nobody noticed Lena Hands running to the water’s edge.

‘Israel?’ Her face crumpled. ‘Israel!’

Ross heard her desperate cry and stood up, just in time to see the remains of the yellow raft drift to shore, a massive crescent shaped tear across its middle and he knew with a sickening certainty that Trelawney’s initial verdict had been correct. 

*********

There turned out to be no need for the beach closure signs. Once word got out that Israel Hands had been killed in front of a group of witnesses, all of whom agreed on what had happened to him, there was an uproar. 

By evening, the police station had been inundated with angry calls and demands for an explanation. Ross was now at his desk, door closed as he waited for the call back from the Oceanographic Institute. Lena Hands had been taken to the clinic where she’d been given a mild sedative and escorted home by Jud Paynter, their other deputy and Prudie’s husband. Thankfully Prudie knew her well and was now sitting with her at home, keeping the island’s local press at bay and providing much needed support. He’d also just gotten off the phone with the police for Clare Monaghan’s county and they were on the way to deliver the news to her children. All in all, it had been an awful six hours.

The light on his phone blinked and Ross sighed, running one hand through his hair before he picked up the receiver. 

‘Chief?’ Dwight was manning the incoming call desk. ‘I’ve got that doctor on the line for you. The one from the fish place?’

‘Put him through.’ Ross instructed and waited for the call to connect. ‘Poldark.’

‘Hi.’ The voice was far younger than Ross had been expecting. ‘This is Dr Hawkins. You called earlier about a shark attack you think happened?’

‘Yes.’ Ross sat back in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck. He had a serious headache setting in. ‘Although I am sorry to say that we don’t actually need your confirmation now.’

‘Oh?’ There was a distinct note of interest in the man’s voice now. ‘May I ask why?’

‘I really shouldn’t be telling you.’ Ross replied. ‘But again, thank you very much for calling back.’ He was about to hang up when Hawkins spoke. 

‘There was another one, wasn’t there?’ he asked. 

‘This afternoon.’ Ross sighed. ‘A twelve year old boy.’

‘Do you have a body?’ Hawkins asked, his voice now completely professional. 

‘No.’ Ross rapped his knuckles against the desk. ‘Not a goddamn thing.’

‘Shit.’ It sounded perfectly genuine and Ross found himself warming a little to this Dr Hawkins. ‘Did anyone get a good look at the shark?’

‘Quite a few.’ he replied. ‘Myself included.’ 

‘How large would you estimate it to be?’ Hawkins sounded like he was making notes. 

‘Big.’ Ross closed his eyes, the massive fins rotating in his mind’s eye once again. 

‘Look.’ Hawkins said. ‘I'll get going now and be there in the morning.’ 

‘No, that’s really not necessary.’ Ross protested. ‘All I needed was confirmation and now I have that so…’

‘Actually, this is a lot more than you think it is.’ Hawkins interjected. ‘My particular area is territorial feeding patterns among Great Whites. This could be the start of something, Sheriff Poldark. And I hope to God I’m wrong, but if I’m not then this could get a whole lot worse.’ 

‘How much worse?’ Ross asked, sitting bolt upright. His heart was doing that horrible pounding thing again and for the hundredth time that week he knew he had to swear off cigarettes and caffeine. 

‘Trust me, you want me to come out there.’ Hawkins said. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’ With that he hung up and left Ross staring at the receiver. 

‘Fuck.’ He hung up and then got up and went through to the reception area. Dwight looked up at him. 

‘Any luck?’ he asked. 

‘We’re getting a visitor.’ Ross said, refilling his coffee mug. ‘I’m going for a cigarette. You want one?’

‘Yeah.’ Dwight got up. ‘I think we both need one.’

They went out the back and stood under the eaves. Ross got the cigarettes and shook two out, lighting Dwight’s and then his own. 

‘What the fuck happened today?’ he said, staring up at the sky. 

‘Christ knows.’ Dwight sounded completely shell-shocked. ‘I guess the next question is what the fuck do we do about it?’

Ross’ cell buzzed and he checked it, grimacing when he saw who it was from. 

‘Warleggan’s called an emergency council meeting for tomorrow morning.’ He stuck the cell back in his pocket. ‘That should be fun.’

Dwight snorted and inhaled. 

‘Yeah.’ he drawled. ‘I can’t fucking wait.’


	3. Going Fishing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Hawkins arrives and Ross has an 'Oh no...' moment.

Ross was up before six the next morning. He got dressed and checked in on Demelza and Elizabeth before he left. They were cuddled up in their bed with Jeremy and Izzy, all fast asleep. He felt a twinge, knowing that as much as they all loved him he had no-one he could share his nightmares with. 

The station was quiet when he went in. Jud was dozing at his desk and he looked up with bleary eyes at Ross as he went to start a fresh pot of coffee. 

‘Morning, Boss.’ He stretched. ‘You get any sleep?’

‘Not a hell of a lot.’ Ross admitted. ‘I’m heading down to the meeting. Tell Dwight to come find me when he gets in.’

‘Will do.’ Jud replied. 

The town hall was packed with local business owners and the council members were all seated at the head of the room. Ross went to take his seat at the side, knowing what was coming and not liking it one bit. 

Warleggan was there, and the look he shot Ross was one of pure animosity. He knew he was to blame for the fallout from the day before but Ross also knew that he was more than likely going to shift the blame to them. He rapped the table with his gavel for silence and the restless muttering finally died down. 

‘Good morning.’ He gave the room a frosty smile. 

Almost immediately the room erupted in angry voices and he had to wave his hands to get everyone to quiet down again. 

‘I need your cooperation this morning.’ His voice was affable but his eyes were steely. ‘Now is not the time for panic.’

‘How long are the beaches going to stay closed?’ someone shouted from the back of the room. 

‘I have the assurance of the police and Sheriff Poldark that they will only be closed for twenty four hours.’ Warleggan said and the room erupted again. 

‘Shit.’ Ross’ voice was lost in the shouting over Warleggan. ‘I did not agree to that.’

‘Just twenty-four hours.’ Warleggan was doing his best to reassure but the angry accusations of starvation come winter were obviously rattling him. ‘They will be open for the weekend, I assure you.’ 

‘What about Lena Hands?’ This was from a woman at the back. ‘She’s put a bounty out on the shark. Three thousand dollars.’

‘What?’ Warleggan looked at the other councillors. ‘No-one cleared this with us.’

‘They don’t have to.’ someone heckled. ‘This is a free country.’ Just like that the ugly mood was back and the room became a cacophony of voices. Ross could only shake his head at how little control was being shown and he decided enough was enough. He started to get up, but the sound of nails dragging down the blackboard at the back of the room was enough to cut the noise completely. 

The room turned as one and looked at the man sitting at the back. His black eyes were hard and his grin sharp as he surveyed the shocked faces in front of him. 

‘You know me.’ he announced, getting up. ‘You know how I make a living. Now this is not your normal big fish. This shark can swallow you whole and make no mistake and I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks.’ 

‘Mr Silver.’ Warleggan said, trying to sound a lot calmer than he now looked. ‘This is not a matter for public debate.’

‘Mrs Hands is paying us to find and catch this beast.’ Silver replied. He moved with an odd gait, almost a hop. ‘That makes it my business, sir.’ His face hardened. ‘And I’ll wager that you want this problem removed so the summer dollars will flow in again.’ He grinned. ‘None of you folks want to be on welfare come wintertime. But this, well this is another thing entirely. I’ll find your fish for you for three thousand dollars but I will catch and kill him for ten. So you better make a decision and with pay me what I want or lose all your business and be left eating beans for winter.’

‘Thank you, Mr Silver.’ Warleggan’s voice made it clear he was no longer going to discuss things. ‘We shall take it under advisement.’ 

‘Mr Mayor.’ Silver gave him a wry smile. ‘Chief. You know where to find me.’

He left the room and Warleggan took more questions and handed out false assurances as Ross stewed. Once the meeting was concluded, he went over to tackle him head on. 

‘What the hell was that?’ He was furious. ‘Twenty-four hours? Why don’t you just ring the goddamn dinner bell?’

‘Keep your damn voice down.’ Warleggan hissed at him. ‘I don’t have to answer to you.’

‘Law and order is my province, George.’ Ross spat. ‘So yes, you do.’

‘You’re only sheriff by the grace of the Council.’ Warleggan sneered. ‘Keep that in mind or you’ll be on the unemployment line very shortly.’

Ross looked at the others, their embarrassed expressions and looks of avoidance telling him everything he needed to know.

‘Fine.’ He stood back. ‘Then you can explain to the next family who loses someone.’

‘Watch you step, Poldark.’ Warleggan warned. ‘If this happens again, the blame will rest on the police’s shoulders.’ Ross gave him a withering look in response and left the room.  
His cell rang when he came out the building. Ross answered it with a frown. 

‘Dwight?’ he looked down to the station. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I got a call from the harbour master while you were in the meeting.’ Dwight explained. ‘Apparently Mrs Hands put her bounty on every damn message board on every game fishing site from here to New Jersey. The place is packed. I’m having a hell of a time down here.’

‘Great.’ Ross muttered. ‘I’m on my way.’ 

*********

Packed was an understatement. 

Ross parked and got out and stared in astonishment at the people swarming the small harbour. He had never seen so many people out, but then three thousand dollars was not to be sniffed at. There were all kinds of people from grizzled fisherman to groups of teenagers carrying gear that was completely unsuitable for a day of shark fishing. 

He cast around and eventually spotted Dwight looking harassed and trying to get a group of men out of a boat that was barely acceptable for paddling around the harbour, never mind the open sea.

‘Dwight!’ he moved towards him and Dwight’s relief was obvious. 

‘This is nuts.’ he asked. ‘Have you seen this? We got people come in on the ferry from all over – Connecticut, Long Island, New York…’ 

‘Shit.’ Ross shook his head. ‘This is only going to make everything worse.’

‘That giant shark story has got every fishing nut and Jaws fanatic out here.’ Dwight pointed at another boat at the far side. ‘Those guys are just here to try and get some pictures.’

‘Well, whatever the hell they’re doing we need to try and get this mess under control.’ Ross said. ‘I’m going to find Charlie. You, get those idiots over there to let that other boat out.’ 

He started for the harbour office, twisting through people and glaring at more than a few of them. Inside, Charlie was on the CB and the look he gave Ross was one of exasperation. 

‘This is fucking crazy, Chief.’ He spoke around the pipe clenched between his teeth. ‘How the hell are we supposed to cope with all this?’

‘I’m going to call the mainland.’ Ross moved to the phone. ‘See if we can get some extra hands out here.’ 

He dialled and waited for the call to be answered. After a while it was and he asked to be transferred to the duty commander and then spent the next fifteen minutes trying to convince them that he needed extra hands. 

Through the window he could see Dwight arguing with a couple with three small children all trying to get into a sailing dinghy. As he was waving his hands around, he nearly smacked right into Ben Gunn, one of the local fisherman, who seemed to be taking out a couple of clients. He grinned at Dwight and then walked to the end of the dock and stopped. Ross could just see him talking to a man that had just arrived in a tender. He caught the line the man threw up and then secured it while the man threw a bag onto the dock and then got hauled up by Ben, who pointed in the direction of the harbour office. 

‘Like I said.’ The duty sergeant sounded apologetic. ‘I really can’t spare anyone. We’re stretched to the limit as it is over here because of the holiday.’

‘Yeah.’ Ross sighed. ‘Thanks anyway.’

‘No problem.’ the sergeant replied. ‘I hope you make it through alive.’ He chuckled and hung up. 

‘Crap.’ Ross replaced the receiver. ‘No help from that side.’ He spotted Dwight passing the window and picked up a couple of pens from Charlie’s desk and launched then in his direction. The clatter made Dwight turn around and Ross beckoned him in. 

‘What?’ He had his head stuck around the door.

‘We’re not getting any help from the mainland.’ Ross explained. ‘I need you to get on the radio to Prudie and tell her to call in Flint and Anne to help with the beaches. We’ll need all hands on deck, reservists too.’

‘Sure thing, Boss.’ Dwight said and then stepped back as the young man Ross had seen with Ben appeared at the door and came in. On first impression, he looked like any other college student that came to the island in their summer vacation. He had thick blond curls, a pair of black wayfarers on top of his head and was wearing a faded band t-shirt, worn jeans and chucks. Ross’ policeman’s eye picked up the extremely expensive diving watch on his arm, the deep tan and the fact that the leather messenger bag he carried across his body would have cost the better part of a thousand dollars. He looked at Ross with sparkling blue-green eyes and a grin that bought out two pronounced dimples. 

‘Just so you know?’ he said. ‘There’s a bunch of guys out there whose boat is so overloaded they are probably not going to get out of the harbour alive.’

‘For fuck’s sake!’ Ross looked at Dwight. ‘Go and tell those idiots to fucking sort themselves out before I arrest them.’ 

Dwight trotted off and the young man grinned, tucking a curl behind his ear. 

‘You’re kind of busy today.’ The grin widened. 

‘No shit.’ Ross huffed. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Yeah.’ The young man stuck out a hand. ‘Jim Hawkins. I’m from the Oceanographic Institute. You’re Sheriff Poldark, right?’

‘Yes. God…yes.’ Ross smiled and shook the hand. ‘Ross Poldark. Thank Christ, you’re here. I feel like an asshole who knows nothing trying to get somewhere with this damn thing.’

‘You do know there’s this thing called the Internet, right?’ Jim was smiling. ‘You can look shit up.’

‘Yeah, but who has time that for that.’ Ross snorted. ‘Besides, I have an actual shark expert standing right in front of me.’ That was when he stopped short. ‘Just how old are you, by the way?’

Jim laughed and Ross felt a twinge of something in his chest. He hadn’t expected the shark expert to be this attractive if he was being honest. The comment the girls had made about an old man in tweed had kind of stuck in his head and the reality of what had actually arrived was now starting to sink in. 

‘I get that a lot.’ Jim dug in his pocket and took out a wallet, handing over his driver’s license. ‘Seeing as you cops always want ID.’ 

Now it was Ross’ turn to chuckle. He took the license and then gave Jim a surprised look. ‘You’re thirty? Damn, what’s your secret?’

‘Good genes.’ Jim replied. 

‘And your birthday’s on Halloween?’ Ross laughed and handed the license back. ‘That must have been fun.’ 

‘It was.’ Jim replied. ‘So where do you want to start, Sheriff Poldark?’ 

‘Where do you think we should start, Dr Hawkins?’ Ross asked. 

‘Well, I’d like to see the remains of the first victim, if I may?’ Jim said. ‘That’ll give me a better idea of what we’re dealing with.’ 

‘Sure, we can head on over now.’ Ross looked back at Charlie. ‘Try and make sure as many of those bozos go out with the proper safety equipment as you can, Charlie. I’ll check in later.’

‘Have fun.’ Charlie chuckled.

They left the harbour office and walked down the dock, Ross on his cell calling Trelawney to set up a meeting.

‘I take it it’s not always like this.’ Jim asked and Ross snorted. 

‘The second victim’s mother has put out a bounty for the shark.’ Ross explained. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim was succinct. ‘That is just typical.’ He sounded surprisingly angry and Ross gave him a curious glance. ‘It’s always the shark that’s at fault, never the person.’

‘I can understand.’ He countered. ‘The kid was twelve.’

‘The kid was in the ocean.’ Jim retorted. ‘It’s their habitat not ours.’

‘Sure.’ Ross huffed. ‘Until one day one of them swims up and bites you in the ass.’

‘Been there, done that.’ Jim replied and that stopped Ross dead in his tracks.

‘Seriously?’ he asked and Jim laughed. 

‘Yeah. I’ll tell you about it later.’ He looked down at two boats that were tied up, both sets of occupants arguing because the one in front wouldn’t let the other out. ‘Buddy, you got an oar? Just scull out of there.’

‘You know a lot about boats, then?’ Ross asked and they carried on walking. 

‘Grew up on them most of my life.’ Jim replied. ‘My family’s down in California. I started out surfing when I was about ten. Saw my first White when I was twelve and fell in love and it’s been downhill ever then.’

‘Where did you see it?’ Ross got to the truck and got in and Jim did the same on the other side. 

‘I was surfing off Moonrise up the coast.’ He chucked his bag over the seat into the back. ‘She came right up to me and checked me out. Scared the shit out of me, but it was also the most amazing experience of my life.’

‘Yell, well this shark wasn’t so friendly.’ Ross replied, pulling out of the harbour lot. ‘You should probably prepare yourself.’

‘I’ve seen a lot of bite victims, Sheriff.’ Jim replied. ‘I’ve got a strong stomach.’

‘Good.’ Ross gave him a sidelong glance. ‘You’ll need it. And don’t call me Sheriff. It sounds weird.’

‘Ross then.’ Jim grinned. ‘You know, I dated a guy called Ross in college.’

It took a few minutes for that to sink in. 

‘You’re gay?’ Ross said it before he could stop himself. 

‘Yeah.’ Jim was giving him a considering look. ‘That a problem?’

‘Not to me.’ Ross replied. ‘Just hope you’re not planning on taking in the nightlife while you’re here. It’s pretty much barren. And don’t mention it to anyone on the mayor’s council or him if he somehow gets round to asking. They have enough of an issue with me being gay.’

‘Oh?’ Now Jim was smiling broadly. ‘It figures they wouldn’t be progressive. And judging from your accent I’d say that you’re not an islander.’

‘New York.’ Ross replied. ‘I moved out here two years with my best friends and our kids.’

‘Interesting.’ Jim frowned slightly. ‘How does that work?’

‘Dem and Liz are married.’ Ross said. He was a little surprised at himself for opening up so quickly, but Jim seemed cool. ‘I’m basically the live-in dad.’

‘Nice.’ Jim looked out the window. ‘Beautiful place to raise kids. My last ex and I thought about it, but I was away too much to really make it work. It’s one of the reasons we broke up actually.’

‘He wasn’t a fan of you chasing sharks?’ Ross asked and Jim laughed. 

‘No.’ He looked back at Ross. ‘I get stationed on the Aurora for six months of the year. She’s a research vessel belonging to the Institute. I get to travel to exotic climes and chase all the sharks I want.’

‘Sounds like hell.’ Ross replied. ‘I hate boats.’

‘Yeah?’ Now Jim seemed a little bemused. ‘You don’t like the ocean?’

‘Not particularly.’ Ross turned into the main street and headed for the clinic. ‘I almost drowned when I was a kid at Coney Island beach. Since then, I’ve kind of steered clear.’

‘Shit, that’s too bad.’ Jim replied. ‘I bet you look great in a swimsuit.’

That took even longer to sink in than the revelation Jim was gay.

‘Are you flirting with me?’ Ross asked, not entirely sure he had heard correctly.

‘Trying to.’ Jim replied. ‘I have to tell you, the uniform is insanely hot.’

That made Ross break out in a grin that he knew without looking could only be described as goofy. 

‘That is actually the first time anyone has ever told me that.’ He had to keep looking straight ahead as the very unfamiliar feeling of butterflies in his stomach gripped him. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound weird but I’m rusty as hell at this.’

‘You’re doing fine.’ Jim nodded at the building in front of them. ‘This is?’

‘Yeah.’ Ross parked and they got out. 

Inside the receptionist directed them to the room at the back. Trelawney was already there, and when they came in Ross made the introductions. He stood back and watched Jim take the pair of gloves Trelawney offered, snapping them on and then going to the examination table and setting down his bag as Trelawney bought the plastic tray that contained what was left of Clare Monaghan over and set it down in front of him. Jim took a Dictaphone out of his bag and a tape measure and set them down next to the container and started it running. 

‘Date is July second. Victim is Clare Monaghan, white female, forty-four years old from Rochester New York. Last seen on the night of the thirtieth of June at a house party on Amity Island. Remains found the morning of the first of July and now in the custody of Amity PD.’ He took a deep breath and turned back the white cloth Trelawney had draped over the container. Ross grimaced as he was confronted with Clare’s body once again but he noticed with astonishment that Jim seemed to be taking it in his stride, a look of professional detachment on his face as he took measurements and wrote down some notes in a cheap spiral bound notebook.

‘Height and weight can only be estimated due to the incomplete nature of the remains as the victim’s torso has been severed mid thorax.’ He leaned in closer, and then huffed and scouted around in his bag. He took out a glasses case and snapped it open, the tortoiseshell rimmed frames making him look studious when he put them on. He put the case back and then gently raised the arm that had been chewed on. ‘Left arm is almost completely denuded of soft tissue, and the hand is missing. Right arm has suffered traumatic amputation at the elbow. All major internal organs appear to be missing and the wound edge is consistent with the dentition of one of the Lamnidae, I suspect Carcharodon. Judging from the bite marks, I would estimate the size to be in the region of approximately of approximately fifteen to eighteen feet. This is a conservative guess.’ He looked up at Ross, and his light eyes were troubled. ‘Post mortem damage indicates the non-frenzied feeding of a smaller species.’ His voice was completely serious when he spoke. ‘Have you checked out these waters at all?’

‘No.’ Ross admitted. ‘I have been waiting for confirmation.’

‘Well, you’ve got it.’ Jim straightened up, snapping off his gloves. ‘This was without a doubt a shark attack that killed Ms Monaghan. Not only that, but this is possibly the worst case I have ever seen. Whatever did this, it’s big.’

‘Not a boat propeller then.’ Ross was giving the now-sheepish Trelawney a furious look. 

‘Christ, no.’ Jim shook his head. ‘But I can tell you one thing, this fish is dangerous.’

‘How dangerous?’ Ross asked, his stomach lurching. 

‘Let’s just say that I wouldn’t go in the water right now.’ Jim pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘And I would definitely keep the beaches closed. At least for a week or so. With any luck, if the shark is hanging around it’ll move on.’

‘Warleggan’s going to love that.’ Ross’ face was set. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me.’ Jim sighed. ‘I’ve probably just delivered that poor animal’s death warrant. That’s not a win in my book.’

‘Better him than us.’ Trelawney said. 

‘Her.’ Jim corrected. ‘A fish this big is more than likely to be female. She might even be carrying pups.’ He looked up at Ross. ‘You mind taking me to the site of the last attack?’

‘Sure.’ Ross replied. He nodded to Trelawney and they left the office. 

On the drive to the lighthouse beach, they chatted about sharks and Ross frowned as he looked at Jim. 

‘Ten feet?’ He shivered. ‘Damn.’

‘Well, how far out was your victim?’ Jim asked and Ross considered. 

‘I suppose that’s about right.’ He shook his head. ‘It just seems odd that they would attack that close in.’

‘It’s not all you see in the movies, Ross.’ Jim pointed out. ‘A lot of the time it’s not very dramatic, just a person that’s there one second and gone the next.’

‘It wasn’t like that.’ Ross tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he remembered the high pitched scream. ‘This was violent.’

‘That’s not unusual in an animal that large.’ Jim replied. ‘And if the child was small, there wouldn’t have been very much to find. It’s just very uncharacteristic though. Most Great Whites bite people by mistake. It’s just bad luck that their bite force is enough to completely sever limbs. Most of the time, death is very quick due to massive exsanguination.’

‘I’m sure Mrs Hands isn’t going to be particularly comforted by that fact.’ Ross replied. ‘I feel like shit now for letting Warleggan keep the damn beaches open.’

‘It wasn’t your fault.’ Jim replied. ‘Authorities are always slow to react, especially when money’s involved. And it’s just shitty luck that this shark didn’t move on. It happens.’

‘Not here.’ Ross insisted. ‘This island is safe as houses normally.’

‘Is that why you came out here?’ Jim asked, and then looked apologetic. ‘Sorry, I’m being nosy.’

‘No, it’s okay.’ Ross smiled at him. ‘It’s one of the reasons. New York just wasn’t the place I wanted to be anymore. Liz’s family are from here and she suggested we come take a look and we loved it. It seemed like the perfect place. Not so much anymore.’

‘Do you know how many people are attacked by sharks every year, Ross?’ Jim asked. ‘Between one and ten, most of which are not fatal. We kill between three and five million. Shark finning, game fishing, nets, pollution…it’s a wonder they even exist anymore.’

‘Would that be a bad thing?’ Ross asked and the look of horror he got would have been quite cute other less serious circumstances. 

‘Absolutely not.’ Jim was resolute. ‘Sharks are a top tier predator. Without them, other species would veer wildly out of control. They are vital for the entire ocean’s ecosystem.’

‘Just a suggestion.’ Ross said. 

‘Well, it’s a fucking awful one.’ Jim snorted. ‘Everyone’s first instinct is to kill the animal that makes our lives a little bit dangerous. Death is tragic. But it doesn’t justify the kind of witch-hunt that I saw going on in that harbour this morning.’

That left Ross thinking and he frowned as they got to the beach and parked. 

‘Is there a way we could get it to go away?’ he asked and Jim chuckled. 

‘Not unless you speak shark.’ he replied and got out.

They walked down to the stretch of sand, now strangely deserted. The only inhabitants were under an umbrella and well up from the waterline. Jim went down to the hard packed sand and stared out at the horizon. He’d brought his camera and started taking pictures. Ross came to stand next to him. 

‘Over there.’ He pointed and Jim nodded, then gestured at the sea. 

‘The seafloor dips about twenty feet out.’ he explained. ‘There’s a deeper corridor of water and that’s probably what the shark is feeding in. They usually hunt at night or when the sun’s coming up, so this is very unusual.’ He had his sunglasses down and Ross wished he could see Jim’s eyes. He gauged a lot by that and he knew that Jim was obviously discomforted judging from his tone of voice.

‘What is it?’ he asked and Jim made a face. 

‘I don’t want to jump to conclusions.’ he said. 

‘A theory then.’ Ross pressed him. ‘I promise nothing goes on the record.’

‘I’d be worried.’ Jim looked at him. ‘Two attacks in two days. All those people out on the water now. If I were you, I’d get the harbour master to keep track of everyone that comes back in.’

‘Okay.’ Ross sighed. ‘This is turning into a complete shit show.’ He shifted from one foot to the other. ‘Look, I need to go inform the mayor and everyone else what you’ve said. You need a place to stay tonight?’

‘No, I came in on my boat.’ Jim replied. ‘I’ll stay there. I would appreciate a recommendation for dinner though.’

That gave Ross a brainwave. 

‘I’ll take care of dinner.’ He gave Jim a small grin. ‘If you can bear eating with two small children and my kids.’

Jim laughed. 

‘Deal.’ He slung his camera over his shoulder. ‘I can tell all of them about the time I got to pat a tiger shark on the nose. I’ll head back in and meet you at the harbour at around six? I want to sail around the coast this afternoon, get a good look at the place.’

‘No problem.’ Ross replied. 

They were halfway back to the harbour when Ross’ radio went and he unhooked it from his belt.

‘Dwight?’ He ignored the scandalised look Jim was giving him for driving and using it at the same time. 

‘You need to get over here, Chief.’ Dwight sounded extremely excited. ‘Lou and Al just came back in and they’ve caught the biggest goddamn shark I have ever seen. They’ve got the damn thing strung up and it’s got a mouth from here to Newark.’

‘Great.’ Ross breathed a little easier, his tension easing. ‘We’ll be there soon.’ He signed off and looked at Jim. ‘Seems that maybe this little problem might have solved itself.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim sounded unconvinced. ‘Don’t bet on it.’ The look of doubt on his face, set Ross’ stomach churning again.

The docks were just as crowded as when they had been that morning. This time though, all the attention was focused on the end down by the boathouses. 

Jim followed Ross through the throng of people. They could see that there was a pair of men up ahead posing for pictures as a small fleet of reporters gathered around them. 

‘Shit.’ Ross hissed. ‘The fucking press is here.’

‘Boss!’ Dwight called them from where he was standing watching the proceedings. He gestured at the huge fish that was strung up, spine bent in a supple curve so that its head was up and its mouth hung open. Ross made introductions and they went closer to get a better look.

‘Jesus.’ Ross was appalled at being confronted with the reality of what Israel Hands must have seen in his last moments. He looked at Jim. ‘You weren’t kidding.’

Ross…’ Jim started but they were interrupted by a booming voice behind them.

‘Sheriff.’ Warleggan sounded particularly self-satisfied and was dressed in what Ross described as his man-of-the-people look in chinos, loafers and a polo shirt with his hair immaculately styled. ‘Have you had a look at our catch of the day?’ He came striding along, his pale eyes falling on Jim with barely concealed hostility. ‘And this must be our shark expert.’

‘This Dr Jim Hawkins.’ Ross put a subtle emphasis on the title. ‘He confirmed the first victim’s cause of death as a shark attack this morning.’

‘I know.’ Warleggan didn’t bother to shake hands. ‘But as you can see, two of our intrepid locals have solved the problem for us.’ He clapped a hand on Ross’ shoulder and Ross had to resist the urge to shake it off. ‘Just in time too. I have just given a press conference and assured everyone that Amity is open for business as usual tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.’

Ross glanced at Jim, seeing what looked like anger flicker in his eyes. 

‘We’ll need confirmation.’ he said and Warleggan snorted. 

‘You have confirmation, Sheriff.’ He nodded at the shark. ‘It’s right there in front of you.’

Ross’ brows drew down in annoyance. He took hold of Warleggan’s arm and drew him aside. 

‘We’ve already learned that making assumptions is not a good thing to do, George.’ he hissed. ‘We want to be sure.’

‘And we will be.’ Warleggan assured him. ‘Let your shark expert have a look at it.’

Ross looked at Jim, who gave him a wry smile, walking off in the direction of the shark. Ross found his eyes drawn to the shapely curve of Jim’s ass in faded denim. He pulled himself together and then looked back at Warleggan, his eyes cold. 

‘What if it’s not the shark?’ he asked. ‘Just putting that out there.’

‘It’s the shark, Ross.’ Warleggan assured him. ‘Trust me.’

‘The last time I did that, a child was killed.’ Ross snapped. ‘I am not taking the rap for this if it blows up in our faces.’

He stalked off, going to where Jim was now examining the shark. Lou and Al were arguing at the side with a couple of other visitors. 

‘You think that’s really it?’ one of them was saying. Ross noted with morbid amusement that he was wearing socks under his sandals. ‘They might want proof for three thousand bucks.’

‘I ain’t never caught one like this before.’ Lou replied. ‘I don’t even know what the goddamned thing is.’

‘It’s a tiger shark.’ Jim said it around the pen he had clenched in his teeth while he measured the shark's mouth.

‘A what?’ Lou’s face was all scrunched up in confusion. 

‘So it’s not a Great White?’ Ross turned to Jim and Jim nodded, taking the pen out long enough to write down his measurements. 

‘No.’ he frowned. ‘It’s unusual for these waters and been known to attack people but I don’t think this is your perp, as they say.’

‘What?’ Al sounded outraged. ‘No way. This is our fish.’ He was already puffing up in indignation and Ross quickly stepped in. 

‘Calm down, Al.’ He held up his hands. ‘No-one’s saying that this is not the shark.’ He looked at Jim. ‘Is there any way to confirm this?’

‘Yes.’ Jim stuck his notebook back in his bag. ‘The digestive system of sharks is very slow. If we dissect this one and check the stomach contents, whatever it’s eaten in the past forty-eight hours is bound to still be in there.’

‘Now just hang on a damn minute.’ Warleggan had caught up with them. ‘What’s this about not being the shark?’

Jim sighed. 

‘There are certain things that we can tell.’ He gestured at the shark. ‘And while this shark has a lot of the hallmarks of the one we’re looking for, there is one thing I can be sure of. The bite radius of this shark does not match the one on Clare Monaghan.’

‘That doesn’t prove anything.’ Warleggan snorted. ‘Ms Monaghan’s body had been in the water. Trelawney said that other things had been…’ He looked around and then lowered his voice. ‘Feeding on her. You can’t be sure that this is not the shark.’ 

‘No, I can’t be one hundred percent sure.’ Jim admitted. ‘But in my opinion, this is not the shark.’

‘Well, as of now I am dispensing with your opinion.’ Warleggan stated. ‘And so will the police. As far as I am concerned, this is the shark and the beaches stay open.’

‘You can’t do that, George.’ Ross protested. 

‘I can and I am.’ Warleggan said. ‘Now that is the end of this and I don’t want to hear another goddamn word. Not only that, but this shark is now off – limits. There’s a taxidermist here that’s already purchased it from Lou and Al and he’ll be taking it back to the mainland tomorrow.’ He gave them both a furious glare and stormed off, reporters in his wake. 

‘Christ.’ Ross had almost incandescent with anger. ‘That stupid bastard.’ He turned to Jim. ‘Now what?’

‘Go do what you need to do.’ Jim looked like he was thinking at a hundred miles an hour. ‘I’m going out. I’ll see you here later if the dinner offer still stands?’

‘It does.’ Ross shook his head. ‘I’ll be here.’ He waved Jim off and grabbed Dwight by the arm. Dwight had to job or be hauled along and his expression was quizzical. 

‘Where are we going?’ he asked.

‘Emergency police meeting.’ Ross replied. ‘Time to start counteracting some of the madness.’

**********

Three hours later they had a full whiteboard, a table full of papers and a whole lot of frustration on their hands.

‘Fuck.’ Ross was standing at the board. ‘Even with the extra hands we’re getting from tomorrow, there’s still plenty of places that won’t be watched.’

‘You can’t be everywhere, Boss.’ Dwight said. He was at the table with Jud, Anne, Flint and Prudie. ‘We have to focus our attention on where most of the swimmers are going to be.’

‘Okay, so that is Lighthouse Beach, Evan’s Cove and the South Sweep.’ Ross went back to examining the map they had on the table. ‘Me and Dwight can take Lighthouse beach, Jud’s got Evan’s Cove and Anne and Flint will be patrolling South Sweep by boat. We’ll put the mainland guys on the beach there and a couple with Jud. I’m sure if we ask Jim, he’ll be able to move along Lighthouse in his boat.’ He looked up and saw a fleeting glance passing between them all. ‘What?’

‘So there’s a vicious rumour going around that he’s going to your place for dinner.’ Anne was grinning. Ross shot Dwight an accusatory look. 

‘I may have overheard you.’ Dwight was grinning unrepentently. 

‘I am just being hospitable seeing as he’s come all the way out here.’ Ross protested. 

‘Yeah?’ Jud was also grinning and it was slightly alarming. ‘You don’t normally do that. Is he gay?’

‘That is none of your business. Now, will you lot stop worrying about my love life and start concentrating on the situation at hand?’ Ross grumbled, but he knew he was on a hiding to nothing.

‘Sure thing, Boss.’ Jud replied. ‘Is he staying with you too?’

‘No.’ It came out a little sharp and Ross winced internally, knowing he’d just added fuel to the fire. 

‘It’s almost six.’ Dwight pointed out. ‘You need to get back to the harbour. Did you at least tell the girls that he’s coming?’ 

‘Shit.’ Ross realised he’d not said a thing to Demelza and Elizabeth. He took out his phone and fire off a quick text. He gave them all a final glare. ‘Not a fucking word about this. Now go home and get some sleep. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.’

He almost ran out of the station, getting in the truck and tearing down to the dock. It was now empty, the day trippers having gone home and the locals cleared out for the night. He got to the office and went in. Charlie was still there, tidying up for the day and he gave Ross a worried look. 

‘Ben’s boat hasn’t come in.’ he said. Ross felt a chill go down his spine. 

‘Have you tried raising him?’ he asked and Charlie nodded. 

‘No reply.’ He shifted in his seat. ‘But it’s also not unlike Ben to stay out overnight, especially if they’re drinking.’

‘All right, keep me posted.’ Ross replied. ‘If he doesn’t come back in the morning, I want to know first thing.’

‘Got it.’ Charlie said goodnight and Ross went back outside to wait for Jim. He peered at the moorings just outside the main harbour and noticed that there was a large vessel anchored not too far out. It was sleek and white and as he watched he saw the tender Jim had arrived on pulling away from it. The pull in his chest started again and Ross huffed and stamped on it. He couldn’t afford to be distracted, even if the person in question was very distracting. 

He went to wait at the edge of the dock as Jim came in, holding a hand out for the line and then handing it back to Jim when he got out. Jim grinned and secured the line.  
‘Remind me to teach you to tie a knot.’ he said. Ross saw he’d changed, the jeans cleaner and sporting no rips this time. They were paired with boots, a navy cotton button-down and those damn glasses. Jim came closer and Ross got a wave of aftershave, something light and grassy that made his senses spark. 

‘I didn’t have time to get dressed up.’ he said by way of apology. 

‘I like the uniform, remember.’ Jim grinned and then handed Ross the bag he’d bought with him. ‘Thankfully, I keep wine on the boat.’

‘The girls are going to love you.’ Ross chuckled. ‘Shall we get going?’

The house was lit up when they arrived and Ross knew that the welcome mat was definitely going to be rolled out. He turned to Jim, who was looking at the house with a grin. 

‘This is gorgeous.’ he said, undoing his seat belt. 

‘Thank you, but maybe you’ll want to reserve judgement until you meet the inmates.’ Ross chuckled. 

He held the gate open for Jim go in, and followed after him. He opened the front door and was almost bowled over by Jeremy, who launched himself at Ross’ legs and clung on like a koala. He looked past Ross, dark eyes wide when he saw Jim standing behind him, now being inspected by Garrick who'd decided to come see what all the fuss was about. 

‘Who’s that, Daddy?’ he asked and Ross smiled and disentangled him, picking his son up and settling him on his hip. 

‘This is Jim.’ he replied. ‘He’s a shark scientist.’

Jeremy looked at Jim, looking very impressed. Jim gave him a friendly smile.

‘And who are you?’ he asked. 

‘Jem.’ Jeremy replied. ‘I really like sharks.’ He very solemnly offered his small hand and Jim shook it, giving Ross delighted smile. 

‘I am very happy to hear that.’ he said.

‘Where’s Mommy?’ Ross asked, putting him down. 

‘Outside.’ Jeremy walked to Jim and took his hand. ‘They said to go outside.’ He looked at Jim expectantly. 

Jim grinned and allowed Jeremy to tow him through the hall and into the kitchen with Garrick padding along behind them. Ross followed, happy at the reception and how Jeremy had reacted. 

Demelza was in the kitchen busy getting glasses out of the cupboard. Her eyes lit up when she saw Jim and the look she shot Ross spoke volumes. Ross gave her a return look that warned her not to embarrass him. 

‘This is Demelza.’ he said to Jim. ‘She’s Jem’s mom.’

‘And you are the esteemed Dr Hawkins.’ Demelza countered with a bright smile. 

‘My reputation seems to have preceded me.’ Jim laughed and shook her hand with the free one. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

‘Likewise.’ Demelza replied. ‘Liz is out on the deck with Izzy.’ She handed Ross the glasses. ‘Go introduce Jim. Dinner will be out in a second.’

‘Go ahead.’ Ross said to Jim. ‘I just need to have a quick chat.’

‘No problem.’ Jim looked down at Jem. ‘Can you show me the way?’

‘Sure.’ Jem hauled him along and Ross waited before giving Demelza a stern look. She was practically bouncing in place.

‘He’s gorgeous.’ she hissed. ‘Not old at all.’

‘You noticed.’ Ross replied. ‘Don’t.’

‘What?’ Demelza was all innocence. ‘I didn’t say a word.’

‘You didn’t have to.’ Ross retorted. ‘I am not hooking up with the hot ichthyologist, Dem.’

‘You think he’s hot.’ Demelza cackled. ‘Oh, there’s no hope for you now.’

‘I’m serious.’ Ross said. ‘He’s here on business.’

‘You’re so fucking boring.’ Demelza pouted. ‘No wonder you never get laid.’

‘And he’ll be gone after the weekend.’ Ross added. ‘This is not a good idea.’

‘Fuck that.’ Demelza folded her arms and gave him her disappointed-in-you look. ‘You need to remember that you have a cock and what it’s for.’

‘Dem!’ Ross glanced towards the door, checking that Jim was out of earshot. ‘Enough.’

‘No Ross.’ she replied, her smile wicked. ‘Not nearly enough.’ 

Ross huffed and took the glasses outside. Elizabeth, Izzy installed on her lap, was already chatting with Jim and she gave Ross a smile that was every bit as pleased as Demelza’s. 

‘Hi.’ She waved at the wine bottles Jim had out on the table. ‘You can make yourself useful and open those.’

‘Great.’ Ross narrowed his eyes at her and then turned to Jim. ‘See, bottle opener and child carrier extraordinaire.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim was smiling. ‘You’re a lucky guy.’


	4. Summer Holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the crowds to arrive.

Dinner passed in a very congenial fashion. Jeremy decided that Jim’s lap was the place he wanted to be and so he climbed on and stayed there, sharing a plate with Jim and peppering him with questions about sharks and shark attacks and delighting in the gorier details. Jim was incredibly patient and kind, answering everything without being patronising, and Ross watched as he collected enough points with Demelza and Elizabeth to make him achieve near godlike status in their eyes. Ross’ last boyfriend had had little patience with children and now they were both kicking him surreptitiously under the table and turning the conversation to what they thought were his many attributes. It was a shocking display of blatant matchmaking and so Ross did the only thing he could in his defence and drowned himself in his wineglass. 

‘You’re very good with kids.’ Elizabeth remarked. 

‘I have no siblings, but I have a shipload of cousins and I also worked as a camp counsellor my whole way through college.’ Jim replied. ‘Besides, it’s very hard to dislike a population group that’s as enthusiastic about sharks as I am.’ He smiled down at Jeremy, now curled in his lap and half asleep. ‘Although I seem to have worn yours out.’

‘It’s bedtime, that’s why.’ Demelza got up and came to gather Jeremy up in her arms. ‘We’ll take these two up to bed quickly. Ross, why don’t you give Jim more wine and we’ll be back down in a bit.’

They left the deck and Ross glared at them as they went. When he turned back Jim had one hand over his mouth, hiding a smile. 

‘Are they always like that?’ he asked. ‘They’ve done everything but tell me how big your cock is.’

‘I don’t get out much.’ Ross muttered, emptying the last of the wine into their glasses. ‘And the first sniff of another gay man in the vicinity makes their matchmaking skills go into overdrive.’

Jim laughed, but the look he gave Ross over his wineglass was thoughtful. 

‘My mom’s the same.’ he replied. ‘She keeps inviting eligible bachelors over for dinner when I go home to visit. Last time it was one of the new pastors at her church. She obviously thought I needed a nice God-fearing man.’

‘Christ.’ Ross took a gulp of wine. ‘What was he like?’

‘Good.’ Jim’s smile was bordering on indecent. ‘His cock turned out to be blasphemy inducing.’

That made Ross laugh and then choke on his wine and he had to put his glass down while he coughed frantically. 

‘Jesus.’ He looked at Jim, whose dimples were now on full power. ‘You fucked him?’

‘Well, she went to all the effort.’ Jim snickered. ‘It seemed rude not to.’ He put his glass down. ‘Now all this aside, we need to discuss what we’re going to do tomorrow.’

‘I have spread everyone out as best I can.’ Ross replied. ‘If you can, I’d like to have you running a line up and down Lighthouse Beach. It would be good to have someone on the water out there.’

‘I can do that.’ Jim replied. ‘Warleggan said that the shark is being handed over to the taxidermist tomorrow. I’d still like to get a look if we can get to it.’

‘It’s probably in the boathouse that Lou and Al use.’ Ross said, frowning. ‘It’ll be locked up.’

‘That’s a shame.’ Jim picked up his glass and swirled the wine around. ‘We really need a definitive answer.’ 

‘An answer to what?’ Elizabeth asked as she came back out. 

‘Warleggan wouldn’t let Jim cut open the shark that Al and Lou caught today.’ Ross explained. 

‘Well, that’s just dumb.’ Elizabeth snorted. She turned as Demelza came out with another bottle of wine. ‘Did you hear that, babe?’

‘Warleggan couldn’t find his own ass with both hands and a map.’ Demelza handed the bottle to Ross and sat down. ‘The man’s an idiot.’

Glasses were refilled and half the bottle disappeared as they discussed the details of the case, arguing ideas back and forth until Ross, who was now more than a little drunk, decided to take the bull by the horns. 

‘Fuck it.’ he announced to the table. ‘Let’s do it.’

‘Do what?’ Jim asked, frowning so his golden eyebrows drew down. For some reason it made Ross’ hormones pay close attention. Stern Jim was remarkably attractive. 

‘Go cut that damn shark open.’ he replied.

‘Can you do that?’ Demelza looked a little shocked. 

‘Of course, I can.’ Ross snorted, buoyed along on wine. ‘I’m the chief of police.’ He met Jim’s eyes across the table. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think I might just be drunk enough to go along with this.’ Jim grinned. ‘And if it goes horribly wrong, I can always say you coerced me.’

‘You won’t be able to get in.’ Demelza protested. ‘It’ll be locked.’

‘So?’ Ross gave her a cocky grin. ‘You think I worked the beat in New York without learning how to pick a Yale lock?’ He got up a little unsteady on his feet. ‘Come on Dr Hawkins. We have a crime to commit.’

‘That’s the best proposition I’ve had in the last six months.’ Jim said, also getting to his feet. ‘Ladies, it was an absolute pleasure. I sincerely hope we get to do this again.’ 

‘So do we.’ Demelza toasted him with her wineglass. They waved goodbye as Ross led him back through the house and to the car, stopping to grab the last bottle of wine.

‘Should you be driving under the influence?’ Jim asked as they got into the truck. 

‘Absolutely not.’ Ross replied, trying to get the key in the ignition and having to squint so he could see where to put it. ‘But neither of us is going to mention this again.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Jim gave him a very sloppy salute and proceeded to use his pocket knife to open the wine. 

The ride to the docks was slow. Ross parked a fair distance away to avoid detection and they more or less staggered around until they were in amongst the boathouses, bringing Ross’ super-strength flashlight with them to light the way and behaving a lot like kids as they stifled laughter whenever they bumped into each other. Ross led the way to the one they wanted and Jim kept watch while he picked the lock and opened the door, ushering Jim inside. He shone the flashlight ahead of them, sweeping it through the darkened space.

‘Over there.’ Jim was already moving to the back of the boathouse. Ross followed and saw the shape of the huge fish, now lying on the concrete floor. Jim stopped at a workbench and sorted through a pile of implements before coming up with a large knife used to gut fish and a pair of gloves. Ross came to watch him, sitting down a safe distance away and drinking wine directly from the bottle with the flashlight balanced on his knee. 

‘So what do you do?’ he asked and Jim knelt down next to the fish. 

‘We start in the alimentary canal and open up the digestive tract.’ he explained. ‘Sharkskin is really tough. It’s got these little tooth-like structures called denticles.’ He shoved the knife in and took a two handed grip, cutting through the thick tissue with a grunt of effort. Thick white fluid gushed out, the air filling with the stench of ammonia strong enough to make them both gag. 

‘Jesus Christ.’ Ross tried to breathe through his mouth and found that just as bad. 

‘They have incredibly strong digestive fluids.’ Jim explained. ‘They can eat pretty much anything.’ He now had both hands in the shark’s belly, rooting around for something. He got hold of it and pulled it out, chucking it back towards Ross. It was a half-eaten tuna and Ross grimaced. A metallic clang announced the next item which looked like part of a boat engine. 

‘Aha!’ Jim sounded triumphant. ‘Just as I thought. He came up from southern waters, probably through the Gulf stream.’ He turned and tossed the object to Ross, who picked it up gingerly and examined it. 

‘He didn’t eat a car did he?’ he asked, staring at the Louisiana license plate in his hand before chucking it back on the ground and wiping his hand on his pants. 

‘No.’ Jim chuckled. ‘Tiger sharks are basically the garbage cans of the ocean. They eat pretty much anything thrown off a ship or on in the water. Somebody probably threw it off a pier.’ He dug around for a few more minutes and then came back to Ross, dropping onto the floor next him and leaning back on his hands. ‘That’s all of it.’

‘Fuck.’ Ross was downcast as he realised the implications. ‘No Clare Monaghan or Israel Hands. We’re going to have to close the beaches again. I’ll call Warleggan first thing in the morning.’

Jim shifted into a cross legged position and looked at him, glasses now askew. 

‘You got a bigger problem than that, Ross.’ he said. ‘You’ve still got a hell of a fish out there, with a mouth about this big.’ He held his hands apart for emphasis. 

‘So how the hell do we confirm that by morning?’ Ross asked. 

‘Well, we know the generally defined area where it’s been feeding.’ Jim replied. ‘They tend to hunt at night so this is the best time to spot it.’

‘What?’ Ross felt somewhat alarmed at the suggestion. ‘Out there? On the water?’

‘Well, I was going to suggest that.’ Jim grinned. ‘Sharks don’t normally come onto land in my experience. We can go out on my boat.’

‘Yeah, I am not drunk enough to go out on the water.’ Ross stated. 

‘Sure you are.’ Jim replied. 

‘No I’m not.’ Ross protested. 

‘Yes, you are.’ Jim insisted.

‘I can’t do that.’ Ross tried a different tack.

‘Yes, you can.’ Jim wasn’t taking no for an answer. ‘Now move your ass, Chief. We have a shark to catch.’

***********

An hour later and Ross should have been regretting every decision he’d made to get him to where he was at that moment. Thankfully he was too drunk to really be concerned and they were on the fly bridge of Jim’s yacht, a 54 foot Grand Banks named the Hispaniola, and sailing along the coastline with the lights of Amity in the distance. 

Ross had to admit he was impressed. Jim was piloting with every sign of competence and that made him feel a little more reassured, as did the life vest he was wearing. 

‘In New York it’s just a never-ending battle.’ he said, waving the nearly empty bottle at him. ‘Crime doesn’t seem to get any better out there. But here, this is different. Here, one man can make a difference.’

‘I get that.’ Jim said with his mouth full. He held out the packet he was dipping into to Ross. ‘You want a pretzel?’

‘No.’ Ross waved him off, looking at the dazzling array of instruments on the console in front of Jim. ‘Where are we?’

‘Just off the beach where the first victim was attacked.’ Jim nodded at something that was glowing. ‘We’re in the deep water channel where it’s probably been feeding.’

Ross got up from his seat and came to sit in the seat next to him. 

‘What is all that?’ he asked. 

‘Depth finder, sonar, all the usual shit.’ Jim replied, taking the wine from him and drinking. ‘Two loose nuts behind the wheel.’ This was accompanied by a noisy snicker. 

‘Yeah?’ Ross peered at the instruments. ‘Isn’t all this kind of expensive? Does the Institute pay for this?’

‘Not exactly.’ Jim sounded a little evasive. ‘I kind of pay for this myself.’

‘Really?’ Ross was fascinated. ‘You rich?’

‘Yup.’ Jim nodded. 

‘How much?’ Ross persisted. 

‘What, me personally or the whole family?’ Jim asked. 

‘Jesus.’ Ross shook his head. A strange bleeping sound came from the instrument that looked like a little TV screen and he pointed at it. ‘What the hell is that?’

‘Fish finder.’ Jim was frowning. ‘It’s probably a school of mackerel all clumped together.’ He stared at it and then his face changed. ‘No it’s something bigger. Out there.’ He slowed the boat and got up, moving to the spotlight he had set up. The brilliant beam cast across the water and then Ross saw something. He got up to get a better look, a chill going through him when he recognised it. 

‘That’s Ben Gunn’s boat.’ He turned back to Jim. ‘Can you get over there?’

‘Sure.’ Jim turned the wheel and brought them in closer. Even as he did, the running lights picked up the boat and Ross saw that the screen at the front was shattered and that the boat was sitting hallway up her hull in the water. There was nobody aboard at all. 

‘I don’t understand.’ he muttered. ‘Ben’s a professional fisherman. What the hell could have happened.’ He looked at Jim. ‘We need to tow this in.’

‘We will.’ Jim was now leaning over the console looking at the wrecked boat. ‘I want to check something first though.’

‘What? No.’ Ross protested. 

‘I’ll only be a minute.’ Jim was already disappearing down the gangway. 

‘Shit.’ Ross groaned and waited for him to come back up. Instead of appearing back on the fly bridge, he came out the doors on the main deck. Ross shinned down the ladder and saw he was wearing a wetsuit. Half of his brain screamed that this was madness while the other half admired just how well Jim’s body was put together and as they were arguing about who was right, he stood there and stared. Jim produced a mask and pair of flippers from a locker and put them on. 

‘I’m going to go down and check the hull.’ he explained. ‘I’m just curious to see what caused the damage.’

You can’t.’ Ross protested. ‘I hate to state the obvious, but there could be a fucking shark down there.’

‘I’ll be fine, Ross.’ Jim assured him. ‘I’ve done tons of night dives.’ He spat into his mask and cleaned it out, then took a flashlight from the same locker and went out onto the dive platform at the back. ‘Just keep an eye out, okay?’

‘Fuck.’ Ross was very unhappy, but he moved to the side of the boat and leaned over the rail to watch Jim slide into the water. He swam a little way out and then disappeared under with a flick of his flippers and only the beam of light from his flashlight showed where he was going. 

Ross stood and watched, heart in his mouth. He was convinced that at any moment he would see a fin cut through the water and then Jim would come up screaming. The seconds seemed to tick past slowly and there was no sign of Jim surfacing. Ross was getting more and more anxious and he went to the platform, trying to get a better look. 

Just as he was about to panic, Jim’s head burst through the water, scaring the life out of Ross. He immediately struck out for the platform, hauling himself onto it with all the grace of an elephant seal coming onto land and lay there gasping for air. Ross could only stare at him. 

‘Jesus Christ!’ He was vaguely aware that he was shouting. ‘What the fuck happened down there?’

‘Well, I got your confirmation that it was a Great White.’ Jim panted. ‘I also found out that the very nice man I met this morning is dead.’

‘Are you sure?’ Ross asked and Jim shot him a glare. 

‘His fucking head just rolled out the big shark shaped hole in the hull at me!’ he snapped. ‘Yes, I’m sure!’

‘Shit.’ Ross was instantly deflated. ‘This is so very very bad.’ 

‘No shit, Sherlock.’ Jim was now sitting up, ripping of his mask and flippers. ‘Fuck.’

‘So what do we do?’ Ross asked. He watched Jim stagger to his feet and make his way back towards the cabin. 

‘I don’t know about you.’ he replied. ‘But I need another fucking drink.’

*********

The morning began with a call from Trelawney at five o’clock. He was close to a breakdown on his side, and Ross couldn’t help but sympathise. Trelawney was used to people passing away peacefully in their beds or from heart attacks from too much good living or the very occasional drowning. He wasn’t used to having to dealing with violent death in circumstances that were quickly becoming unmanageable. 

They had towed the boat in to the harbour and placed it in the police boathouse under (far more) secure conditions. Trelawney had been woken from his bed to come and collect the gruesome remains, blanching visibly when he’d seen what was left of Ben Gunn. Jim had gone with him to the clinic to conduct what was probably the briefest autopsy in history while Ross had notified Charlie to try and track down who the other men with him had been and then made the trip to Ben’s home and informed his wife of what had happened to him. Cheryl had been understandably distraught, breaking down in near hysterics. At a loss, he’d called Demelza and asked her to come over and stay with the new widow. She and Cheryl were good friends and she’d arrived very shortly afterwards with Elizabeth in tow and the kids all bundled up. Jeremy was the same age as Ben and Cheryl’s son Jason, and they’d told Ross they thought it would be a good idea to have something there in the morning to act as a distraction while Cheryl started to work through the fact that her husband was not coming back. 

Ross had been extremely worried as well. Jim had sent him a message saying he was going back out, now having sobered up considerably in spite of his threat to get even drunker after his encounter with Ben’s boat. He’d told Ross about how he’d extracted a tooth that was quote ‘as big as a shot glass’ from the battered hull before the head had made its escape and scared the ever-loving crap out of him and he’d dropped it in fright. Ross had tried to convince Jim otherwise, inviting him to stay at the house, but Jim had been on a mission to track down the shark and had gone back to his yacht. Only the fact that he’d kept in regular radio contact with Charlie, now installed back in the harbour office, had given Ross any peace of mind. He’d finally given up just before dawn, his search proving fruitless, and he’d come into the harbour and moored at the deep water pontoon at the end. Ross had also gone home and was now only two hours of sleep down.

‘I told him.’ Trelawney sounded noticeably distressed. ‘He still won’t close the beaches. I mentioned what Jim and you found and he claims that proves nothing. Jim doesn’t have the tooth he found and George is refusing to see sense.’ 

‘Christ.’ Ross fell back onto the pillows and put a hand over his eyes, trying to block out the light. ‘This is going to be a complete shit-show by the time anyone actually starts arriving.’

‘I know.’ Trelawney replied. ‘I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.’

‘Not your fault.’ Ross sighed. ‘I’ll swing by later. I better try and get a handle on this as soon as possible.’

‘I’ll see you later then.’ Trelawney signed off and Ross was left staring at the cell in his hand and wishing that he’d never set foot on Amity Island. He’d rather tackle any number of murder cases than this. 

He got up, moving through the silent house once he was showered and dressed. The coffee machine was burbling away and Ross leaned on the counter and watched it until he had enough to pour in his travel mug to take with him. He was just getting into the truck when his cell rang.

‘Hi.’ Jim sounded exhausted, but determined. ‘You on your way to the station?’

‘Yeah.’ Ross muttered, trying to get the key in the ignition and juggle his phone and coffee at the same time. ‘You going to meet me there?’

‘Sure.’ Jim replied. ‘I hate to say it, but it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful fucking day.’

‘I know.’ Ross glared through the windscreen. ‘First ferry is at eight-thirty.’

‘Shit.’ Jim sighed on his side. ‘Is there anywhere in this town that makes a decent breakfast at this hour?’ 

‘Yeah, but the diner will probably be packed.’ Ross grumbled. 

‘Looks like it will have to be plan B then.’ Jim said. There were seagulls in the background and Ross wondered if he was still on the yacht. ‘I’ll see you in about half an hour.’

He hung up and Ross focused on trying to drive and not fall asleep at the same time. When he got to the station, Dwight was just getting out of his own truck. He held up a brown paper bag and the smell emanating from it made Ross want to kiss him. 

‘Caroline made muffins.’ Dwight said. ‘She figured we’d be too busy to get food and didn’t want us starving.’

‘God bless your sainted wife.’ Ross replied. ‘Jim’s on his way over.’

‘Flint just messaged me to say that he and Anne are too.’ Dwight held the door open for him and followed him inside. His face was creased up from an obvious lack of sleep.

‘How’s Cheryl doing?’

‘Last check, Liz told me they’d finally gotten her to sleep.’ Ross replied. ‘They’re staying with her today. Understandably, she’s still in shock.’

‘No kidding.’ Dwight agreed. ‘This is fucking awful.’

The meeting room was the same as they’d left it the night before. Ross went to the map and picked up a red pin, sticking it in the approximate place they’d found Ben’s boat the night before. This really bought it home. He’d known Ben and liked him and it tore him up inside knowing what Cheryl must be going through. 

‘Morning, Boss.’ Jud came in, his uniform slightly rumpled. He was carrying a huge thermos and a Tupperware container. ‘Prudie was a mess last night so she stayed up all night cooking. Figured we’re not going to get to eat our holiday roast this weekend so she’s turned it into sandwiches and made a vat of potato soup.’ He set the food down on the table and Ross smiled at him. 

‘She’s an angel.’ He grinned. ‘I’m starting to see the attraction of a devoted wife.’

Dwight snorted. He was already ripping open the bag of muffins. Jud went to make coffee and they heard him greet Jim as he came in through the back door. He came in the room carrying a hessian bag and stopped as he looked at the food already waiting, putting it on the table and grinning at them.

‘Looks like I wasn’t the only one with a Plan B.’ he remarked. 

‘What the hell is in that?’ Dwight was already rifling through the contents. His face lit up when he smelled bacon. ‘Oh God. That smells good.’

‘Staple breakfast of living on a boat.’ Jim gave Ross a smile that seemed almost shy. ‘Bacon and dinner rolls.’ 

‘Jesus.’ Dwight was giving Ross a look that spelt trouble. ‘Are these fresh?’

‘Yeah.’ Jim now looked even more embarrassed. ‘I make batches and stick them in the freezer. They only take ten minutes.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s not a big deal. My parents taught me to cook years ago when I first went to college.’ 

‘I’m not too sure about that.’ Dwight’s look at Ross was now deeply meaningful. ‘A man who can cook well is kind of a rare commodity in these parts. A man who can bake, however, needs to be snapped up damn fast before the vultures get to him.’ 

That was enough to make Ross’ face heat up. 

‘Thank you.’ He meant it sincerely but it came out gruff. ‘Between you and the concerned spouses, we’re pretty much set.’ 

Jim’s smile was dimpled and it made Ross’ stomach lurch a little.

‘So what is our plan for today?’ he asked Ross, who turned to the board. 

‘You’re here.’ He indicated the channel he wanted Jim to patrol. ‘You can stay in touch with me and Dwight on your frequency. We’ll be stationed at the lookouts at both ends of the beach. I’ve got some foot patrol coming in and we’ll get them to walk up and down.’

‘Hello?’ The call from the hall came from Anne and she entered the room with a cake tin in her hands. ‘I thought you fellas might be hungry so me and Flint whipped up some sausage and biscuits.’ 

Dwight, Ross and Jim all looked at each other and then the tension broke and they all started laughing. 

‘Fuck.’ Ross shook his head. ‘No wonder the goddamn shark is here. It’s after all the food.’


	5. Happy Fourth Of July

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the holidays.

They held their meeting, eating the various offerings now laid out on the meeting table like a grand breakfast buffet. Ross hated to admit it, but he was a sucker for baked goods and Jim was turning out to be a man of rare talents. He also noticed that he was being watched and that the consumption of his fourth dinner roll had not gone unnoticed by the others, who were all staring at him and Jim interacting like they were at a night at the theatre and the two of them were the star performers. 

Prudie had turned up and was on the radio and phone, coordinating the day’s arrangements and Ross marvelled for the umpteenth time about how she managed to juggle so many things at once. At eight-forty-five she stuck her head into the meeting room and addressed them. 

‘First ferry’s on its way.’ she announced. ‘It’s got your extra officers, Chief. I’ve dispatched them to the beaches immediately.’

‘Good thinking, Prudie.’ Ross got up. ‘Looks like it’s show time.’ He looked at Jim. ‘You know what to do?’

‘Charlie and I can handle the water side of things.’ Jim replied. They had had a call from the harbour master and he’d told Ross that news of Ben’s death had spread quickly through the island’s fishing community and they’d come out to lend their support and help in any way they could. Ross had tasked him ad Jim with running that side of the operation, and Anne and Flint had been reassigned to drive between the smaller beaches that originally had no cover at all.

They left the station for their separate posts and Ross drove himself and Dwight down to Lighthouse Beach. The extra officers from the mainland, all three of them, were waiting for them when they arrived. Ross gave them a quick briefing and sent them to their posts. Dwight took his gear from the truck and started the trek to the lookout tower at the southern end of the beach and Ross did the same, going north. He noticed that there were already holidaymakers staking out a claim on the white sand. 

It took another hour before the day shift arrived to open the deck chair hut and food stalls that were on a small esplanade at the back of the beach. Another half hour and the car park started to fill up as the bulk of the day trippers made themselves at home, spreading out towels and spiking umbrellas and getting down to the very serious routine of turn and baste that most of them would follow for the entire day. 

Ross had climbed to the top of the tower and was now staring out over the ocean, binoculars in his hands. He could hear the chatter from the radio on his belt, Prudie directing everyone to their posts and people calling in to let them know they were in situ. His heart gave a little jump in spite of himself when he heard Jim call in. 

He inhaled deeply and tried to pull himself together, focusing on the job at hand. They were all tired but Ross also knew that they couldn’t afford any fuck ups, not today. 

********

Jim stood on the fly bridge and looked back along the stretch of beach he was anchored off. he could make out Ross standing in the lookout tower, and every time the tall figure seemed to glance in his direction he felt a little surge of what was without a doubt severe attraction. 

It was extremely inconvenient.

He’d always been too involved in his work to really get into a serious relationship, which was why he tended to drift into flings more often than not. This didn’t feel like a fling though, and Jim chewed on his lower lip as he contemplated doing the unthinkable and actually asking Ross out if this whole disaster actually managed to blow over. 

There was a change in the water’s surface and Jim’s eyes were instantly drawn to it. He was experienced in tracking sharks, had done it since his first field trip to Cape Town to see them leap out of the water in defiance of their massive bulk and remembered how his heart had contracted, the feeling of amazement and awe he’d always felt when he saw them. Now, this felt almost like a betrayal, a contradiction of everything he valued and wished for the animals he loved more than any other on the planet. 

‘Jim?’ Ross’ voice came through the radio. ‘Anything out there?’

Jim sighed and replied. '

‘Not a damn thing.’ He kept watching the water’s surface. ‘You?’

‘No.’ Ross huffed. ‘Think it’s too much to hope it’s decided Amity is just getting too damn crowded?’

‘We can hope.’ Jim replied. ‘Ross?’

‘Yeah?’ Ross sounded a little preoccupied and Jim watched how he was now moving to the other side of the lookout. 

‘Can we do our level best not to kill it?’ he asked. Ross stopped and now he was looking directly at the boat. He didn’t answer for a while and Jim found he was holding his breath, waiting. 

‘I will do everything I can to try and make that happen.’ he eventually replied. It was enough to make Jim smile. 

‘Thank you.’ He felt a little thump in his chest. ‘I appreciate that you might not be able to stop it, but I love that you want to try.’

‘Love?’ Now Ross’ voice had a very small tone in it, almost mischievous. ‘Isn’t that a bit soon, Dr Hawkins.’ 

‘Probably.’ Jim was now smiling so hard, he knew he looked like an idiot. ‘Seeing as I can see you but also not see you, can I be brave and ask you to dinner tomorrow?’ There was radio silence again and he was just starting to think he’d fucked up when Ross replied. 

‘I know a place.’ he said. ‘You like fish?’

Jim laughed, and Ross did on the other side as well and it felt like whatever it was they had been dancing around since he arrived was now out in the open. 

‘You know I do.’ He felt the butterflies in his stomach start doing a happy dance. 

‘Shit.’ Ross sounded pleased. ‘You know we really shouldn’t be doing this over an official channel. At least I know you fuck on the first date.’ It was obviously meant as a joke but Jim could actually see the moment Ross realised what he’d said and facepalmed. ‘Fuck. Forget I just said that and go back to thinking I’m a normal human being.’ 

‘Too late.’ Jim was now almost delirious with delighted anticipation. ‘Although now I have to ask if you do too.’

‘What?’ Ross was obviously not paying attention. Jim grinned, wishing he could see Ross’ face as he said the next few words. 

‘Fuck on the first date, Ross.’ He swallowed hard at the thought. ‘Because I really don’t want to be the only one putting out.’

‘Jesus.’ Ross breathed through the radio. ‘Believe me if you made a move, I’d be all over your ass.’

‘Good.’ Jim said. ‘Now stop dirty talking me and watch the damn beach.’ 

‘Roger that.’ Ross laughed and signed off. 

**********

Flint stood and stared at the people wading at the edge of the beach. He gave Anne a look bad she returned it. They both knew what the other was thinking.

The beach was filling up quickly, but there was still nobody swimming. The ferry had bought a bunch of journalists and thrill seekers and a few eco warriors sporting placards that protested against anyone killing the shark. Flint had to admit that he agreed with them and with Jim as well, who he knew wasn’t happy at the prospect. He respected him for that. 

‘It’s so strange.’ Anne said next to him. ‘Nobody’s going in the water.’

‘Would you?’ he asked and her lovely face fell. They had both known Ben Gunn well and the loss sat heavily on them. 

‘No.’ she admitted. ‘It just tears me up that we have to do this though. And George is being such an ass.’

The mayor had stopped by South Sweep earlier, a group of property developers in his wake. He’d made a long song and dance about them having caught the shark that ‘supposedly injured some bathers’. It had been enough to make them both livid and he’d beat a hasty retreat when he’d seen them glaring at him, hustling the developers along before they could inform them otherwise.

‘Check in?’ The voice came through Flint’s radio and he unhooked it and raised it to reply. 

‘We’re all clear here, Chief.’ He turned to give the beach a quick scan. ‘It’s pretty quiet on this side.’

‘That’s what I like to hear.’ Ross said. ‘Keep me posted.’

‘Roger that.’ Flint signed off and looked back at the sea. Even as he did though, he caught sight of something that made him frown. ‘Anne? Do you see that?’

‘I do.’ Anne had her own radio, tuned to the boating frequency in her hand. ‘Quincy? You see that?’ 

The fisherman posted on the blue and white fishing boat about a hundred yards off the beach answered instantly. 

‘Just a shoal of bluefish.’ he replied. 

Anne glanced at Flint, letting out a long breath. 

‘Jumping at shadows.’ she said and Flint grimaced and went back to watching the water. 

*********

Ross could feel his nose burning and he took the sunstick from his pocket and reapplied. His olive skinned tanned well, but his nose was always vulnerable to burning. He was feeling a little giddy from his conversation with Jim and the random thought popped into his head that he’d somehow need to make a very discreet trip to buy condoms without the entire island finding out about it. The downside of living with two lesbians in a committed relationship meant he couldn’t steal one from them, although he would probably have his choice of personal lubrication. 

‘You’re daydreaming.’ The sound of Demelza’s voice behind him made Ross turn around. She was halfway into the tower, a coolbag in one hand. ‘That’s not very professional.’

Ross grinned and went to take it from her, giving her a hand up. 

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. 

‘Giving Cheryl a long deserved break.’ she replied. ‘We’ve bought Jason with us. The poor kid needs a distraction. He’s not quite realised that his dad’s not coming back.’

‘Us?’ A little flare of alarm went through Ross. ‘You bought the kids here?’

‘They’re fine, Ross.’ Demelza was a little bit stern. ‘They can’t live in fear and Liz is watching them like a hawk. They’ve been told in no uncertain terms that they’re not swimming today, although Jem’s a little disappointed he couldn’t get to go out with Jim.’ She gave him a smile. ‘You know he’s smitten. Jim’s all he’s been talking about since we got to Cheryl’s last night. It’s good though. It’s helped.’

‘How is she?’ Ross asked, all his happy thoughts gone in a flash. 

‘A mess.’ Demelza sighed. ‘She’s devastated. Emily Barret’s with her. We’re taking shifts.’

‘You’re amazing, you know that?’ Ross put one are around her and pulled her in to kiss the top of her coppery head. ‘Both of you.’ 

‘It’ll be okay, Ross.’ Demelza said, hugging him back. ‘None of this is anyone’s fault. Okay, maybe George’s.’ She looked up at him. ‘Now you going to tell me just what had you so distracted?’ 

Ross shook his head. 

‘It doesn’t seem very appropriate now.’ he replied.

‘Bullshit.’ Demelza snorted. ‘Life doesn’t stop because shit happens. You know that as well as I do.’ 

Ross sighed. 

‘Jim asked me out.’ He couldn’t help a small smile. ‘I think I’m going to take him down to the Marlin.’

‘Fancy.’ Demelza was smiling. ‘Any chance of you getting some actual action?’ her blue eyes were twinkling. ‘Jim seems the type that doesn’t mess around.’

‘I know.’ Ross picked at a chip of paint on the railing. ‘I’m not exactly prepared.’

‘It’s like riding a bicycle.’ Demelza assured him. ‘I’d be more worried about what comes afterwards.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ross frowned. 

‘You like him.’ Demelza pointed out. ‘You really like him. I could see it last night. You practically gave him cow eyes all evening.’

‘Jesus.’ Ross huffed. ‘This is why I don’t date.’

He was thankfully interrupted by the radio and Demelza grinned and went back down, walking back to where Ross could see Elizabeth had set up camp. They had even bought Garrick, who was a furry blur as he attempted to excavate his way to China. Thankfully he was like Ross and didn’t swim if he could help it. Jeremy and Jason Gunn were busy constructing a grand edifice of sand and Izzy was at the side with her own bucket and spade. 

‘Go.’ he said and Jud’s voice bought him back down to earth with a thump.

‘Boss.’ He sounded worried. ‘We’ve got a problem.’

**********

The radio crackled and Jim frowned. He answered and watched as Ross started to pace in the tower. 

‘What’s happened?’ he asked. 

‘There’s been a scuffle at Evan’s Cove.’ Ross snorted. ‘A bunch of kids who’ve been drinking too much, far too early. I have to go.’

‘Okay.’ Jim said. ‘I’m sure we can cover this side.’ 

‘Thanks, Jim. I’ll try and make it as quick as I can.’ Ross was already moving to climb down from the tower. ‘The girls are here with the kids so I’m leaving them in your care.’

‘In that case, I’ll be super careful.’ Jim replied. ‘I won’t let them out of my sight.’

He watched Ross get to the bottom of the ladder and jog through the now packed beach, disappearing over the dune that hid the car park and then went back to his vigil. 

**********

There was more than just a scuffle going on at Evan’s Cove by the time Ross got there. The kids in question were a group of college students from off the island and some of the local ones. The whole thing had apparently started with a few comments of a particularly nasty variety and punches had been thrown. 

Now Jud was in the middle of a group of them, trying his level best to calm everyone down while the two extra officers were left to watch the beach. Ross waded in immediately, his natural authority and height making more of a dent. He couldn’t help but notice that one of the ringleader’s was Warleggan’s sixteen year old son, who shouldn’t have been drinking, let alone starting fights with kids older than he was but his father’s arrogance and sense of entitlement ran deep in him as well. Ross sent them packing and they went off grumbling about going sailing in the pond that led off from the beach. 

‘Thanks.’ Jud gave the extras a furious glare. ‘They’re not much fucking help.’

‘They’re not ours.’ Ross sighed. ‘Okay. We need to get this lot sorted out. You need to get back to this and I need to go back to Lighthouse.’ 

He helped Jud round up the college kids, and in about twenty minutes he had them identified and dispersed with stern warnings to clear out and an even sterner warning about drinking on a public beach. With that done he was about to get in his truck and go when he heard a woman scream.

**********

Jim had to blink twice before he realised what he was looking at.

The fin was easily two feet tall, black and shiny and cutting through the water not ten feet from the beach. He was about to radio it in when one of the few people who had ventured into the water spotted it and screamed her lungs out, thrashing through the water in an effort to escape. 

‘Shit!’ he grabbed the radio. ‘Dwight, this is Jim. Do you see it?’

‘Yeah.’ Dwight sounded panicked. ‘What do we do?’

‘Get everyone out the goddamned water!’ Jim yelled, completely unable to do anything else. 

The shrill sound of whistles blowing commingled with the screams coming from the swimmers and now people were running back and forth, the entire beach erupting in pandemonium as everyone saw the fin. 

Jim could only stare as one of the smaller boats went in, the fishermen crewing it coming right up alongside and then yelling their heads off at it. It was only when they leaned over the side and grabbed something that Jim realised what was afoot. He watched the men haul two kids onto the boat and blew out a relieved breath. He could almost see the anger on the men’s faces as both boys were subjected to a sustained tongue lashing, profanities drifting back over the water to him. 

Jim huffed and stifled his annoyance. 

‘It’s a couple of kids with a plastic fin.’ he said to Dwight. ‘False alarm.’

‘Thank fuck for that.’ Dwight sounded extremely relieved. 

**********

Ross ran down the beach to where the screaming was coming from. He saw a young woman standing at the footbridge that led over the entrance to the pond. She had an easel set up and was waving frantically at him. 

‘Shark!’ She gesticulated wildly at the water. ‘It’s gone into the pond!’ 

Her cries had attracted other onlookers and Ross joined them, running up and onto the bridge. From there he had a clear view of the pond, a popular place with families, a significant number of which were scattered around its perimeter while others were sailing on its glass-like surface in small dinghies. 

At first he saw nothing and then there it was, a sleek torpedo shaped body coloured a deep slate grey on top. As it swum underneath the bridge, Ross could see the powerful sweep of its tail from side to side, propelling it through the water with barely a ripple. He could barely comprehend the size of it, estimating it to be close on twenty feet long from snout to tail and the bulk it seemed to carry looked impossibly huge. 

‘Fuck.’ He looked ahead, seeing the direction the shark was taking and then bolting through the crowd, shoving people aside in his rush to get down to the sand. He could hear that people on the bridge were now yelling for those on the pond to get out of the water, but he didn’t stop. Only when he hit the sand did he start actually thinking about what he could do. 

‘Jesus!’ There was a man waving at a small boat. ‘It’s headed straight for you!’

Now Ross stopped long enough to see that the fin had broken the surface and it looked at least two feet tall by his reckoning. He stared in horror as it slid under the water again and then next thing the small boat was flying through the air, completely lifted out of the water as the shark came up underneath it and the three young men inside were catapulted into the water, their cries swallowed up as they went under the water. Ross watched them all surface, turning and yelling at the nearest other boat to get in there and help, but they were frozen in terror. 

He was helpless, condemned to watch as the three teens in the water started yelling themselves, striking out and swimming with everything they had for the boat, but it was too late. The one at the back screamed as the fins, which Ross now knew were called pectorals, twisted through the air as the shark rolled and then he was gone. Unlike Israel Hands, he did not surface and the people on the boat screamed and screamed as the fin very briefly broke the surface and indicated that the shark was now on its way out the same way it had come in. 

There was a flurry of activity as the people in the boats came back to life, rowing over to the other two boys and hauling them in as quickly as they could. They started rowing for the bank and Ross waved the crowd back as they landed. Even as he got to the first boat and carried the teen to the shore where he laid him down on a hastily procured towel, he knew that this was going to be the single incident that would finally get Warleggan to see the light. 

‘Val?’ He stroked the teen’s matted hair back from his face, looking into the blue eyes that were wide with terror. ‘Hang on, we’re going to call the medics.’ 

Val Warleggan was pale as milk, his face crumpling as he started crying. 

‘It took Matt.’ He was now shaking hard, his skin broken out in goose flesh in spite of the searing heat. ‘It just came right up and ate him.’

Ross looked across to the other teen, who was in slightly better shape, a towel around his shoulders. 

‘Chief?’ Jud’s hand came down on his shoulder. ‘The medics are on their way.’

‘Thank God.’ Ross held out a hand for another towel. ‘He’s going into shock.’ He gave Jud a brief glance. ‘Call this through. Put everyone on alert. Tell them the damn shark is still out there.’

***********

‘Jim?’ Dwight’s voice came through the radio. ‘We’ve just had a transmission through from Evan’s Cove. The shark took another kid.’

Jim felt his blood run cold. 

‘I’m headed over there.’ he said, moving to lift the anchor.

‘It’s too late.’ Dwight sounded heartbroken. ‘It went into the pond, capsized a boat and took the kid and then swam straight back out again.’

‘Jesus.’ Jim’s mind was now racing. ‘This doesn’t make any goddamn sense at all.’ 

‘Ross has given the order to clear the beaches.’ Dwight continued. ‘He’s getting everyone off, so if you could start passing the word to the other boats, we’d appreciate it.’

‘That I can do.’ Jim replied. ‘I’m sorry, Dwight.’

‘This isn’t supposed to happen here.’ Dwight replied. ‘This is nuts.’

‘I know.’ Jim could only feel sympathy for Dwight’s bemusement. ‘If it’s any consolation, I’m as lost as the rest of you as to why it’s behaving like this. This is so far out of normal range that I literally don’t have a single explanation.’

‘Ross is going with the other two kids that were in the boat to the hospital.’ Dwight said. ‘One of them is Warleggan’s kid.’

‘Fuck.’ Jim sat back in the pilot’s seat. ‘Now that’s karma if ever I saw it.’ 

‘No shit.’ Dwight sighed. ‘Look, I better get down and help the others.’

‘No problem. Thanks for letting me know.’ Jim said and then switched frequencies, putting out the call to the other boats.


	6. Repercussions of Assumptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warleggan finally takes his head out of his ass.

Ross got to the clinic to find Trelawney already waiting for them, after the medics had advised him to head straight there. He and a nurse took Val into one of the examination rooms and shut the door. Another nurse ushered the other teen into the last room and did the same and Ross was left waiting in the reception area. Not five minutes later, the door slammed open and a wild-eyed Warleggan came flying in. 

‘Where is he?’ he demanded and Ross moved, a hand to Warleggan’s chest to stop him from charging into the examination room. 

‘Just wait a second.’ He had to bark to get through and Warleggan fell back, his face pasty with fear. ‘Val’s in there with Trelawney. He’s alive but he’s had a very severe shock and they need to check him over.’

‘The other boys…’ Warleggan’s voice faltered. ‘They’re friends from the school he goes to in Rochester. Their parents let them come stay with us for the vacation.’ He looked at Ross and his eyes were desperate. ‘How the hell do I tell them that one of them isn’t coming home?’

‘It’s not going to be easy.’ Ross steered him to a chair and made him sit down. ‘I’ll need his name. For the case file.’

‘Matthew Brody.’ Warleggan ran a hand over his face. ‘Jesus, he’s only sixteen. His birthday’s the same month as Val’s.’ 

Ross nodded, patting his arm awkwardly and then straightening up. 

‘I need the beaches closed, George.’ he said and Warleggan looked up, panic now setting in. 

‘I didn’t mean for this.’ His voice was shaking. ‘I only wanted…’

‘I know.’ Ross interjected. It wasn’t something he wanted to hear. ‘This weekend is done. We can only hope to salvage the rest of the season by trying to solve this.’

‘Silver can have as much money as he wants.’ Warleggan muttered. ‘I’ll sign any cheque. He just has to make it go away.’

Ross remembered his promise to Jim.

‘I have one condition for that.’ he said. ‘Dr Hawkins thinks that this shark is behaving very erratically. He has to go with.’

‘I don’t know if Silver will agree to that.’ Warleggan looked up at him. 

‘He’ll have to.’ Ross said. ‘In fact, I think it will be a good idea for me to go with as well. Make sure this is done right.’

Warleggan nodded slowly. 

‘Whatever you think is best.’ He turned as the door opened and got up immediately when Trelawney gave him the go ahead, disappearing into the room.

Ross blew out a deep breath, hands on his hips as he let the day’s events wash over him. His cell buzzed and he reached for it. It was Demelza’s number. 

‘Hey.’ He could hear how exhausted he sounded. 

‘Hey.’ Demelza’s voice was croaky, like she’d been crying. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yeah.’ Ross sighed and leaned against the wall. ‘You get back to the house okay?’

‘Yes.’ She heaved a sigh as well. ‘Jim’s just arrived. He’s worried about you.’ 

‘Tell him to stay there.’ Ross said. ‘We need to talk. Warleggan’s agreed to give Silver the go ahead.’

‘Shit.’ Demelza was moving around now and Ross could hear other voices in the background. ‘But I suppose something has to be done.’

‘Yeah, I just wish it hadn’t come to this.’ Ross replied. ‘You want me to pick up anything on my way back?’

‘No. We’re going to go over to Cheryl's tonight.’ Demelza tapped her nail against the phone, a sure sign she was agitated. ‘You boys will have the place to yourselves.’

‘Shit.’ Ross smiled in spite of himself. ‘You just can’t help yourself, can you?’

Demelza made a funny little choked off sound. 

‘That’s not what I meant.’ she protested, but he could hear her heart wasn’t in it.

‘I know, sweetheart.’ He tried to sound reassuring. ‘We’re going to fix this.’

‘Good.’ Demelza hung up and Ross was left sitting in the reception wondering just what the hell he’d let himself in for. 

He left after a brief word with Trelawney who assured him both teens would be all right, and then headed back to the station. He found the summer deputies from the day shift all assembled and drinking coffee while Prudie tended to them like a mother hen.

‘You go home.’ she said the second Ross walked in the door. 

‘I can’t.’ Ross replied. ‘I have things to do.’ 

He walked to his office past Jud and Dwight, who were coming in the back. They gave him a matching pair of sympathetic looks and, after Ross had given them a rundown of what the situation was, left him to go inside and close the door. 

It was easy to find the Brodys’ number. It was much harder to listen to the sobs of Mrs Brody on the other side in the background when he told her husband what had happened. Ross expressed his condolences and assured them they could come out the next day. 

After that he called Taggart at the Amity Gazette and told him to print a warning on the front page of the next day’s edition that the beaches were all officially closed and no-one was to go into the water until further notice. Then he called Silver and listened to the fisherman rant for ten minutes until he finally agreed to the terms Warleggan laid out. He told Ross to be at the docks the next day and they would make plans to go as soon as the tide went out the following morning. 

The calls and paperwork took three hours to get through and by six, Ross was numb. He looked up as his door opened and Dwight peered in. 

‘You need to go home.’ he said. Ross heaved a sigh and slumped back in his chair. 

‘What about you?’ he asked. 

‘I’ll be fine.’ Dwight assured him. ‘I’m going home at nine. Jud’s gone to get a few hour’s sleep and then he’ll be back for the night shift. You know him, he gets by on three hours.’

Ross smiled but there was little humour in it. 

‘Thank you, Dwight.’ He got up, every muscle protesting. ‘You two are going to have to hold the fort at least a little bit longer, at least for tomorrow.’

‘Yeah.’ Dwight shrugged. ‘We do what we have to do. You go home and sleep. You’ll need it to negotiate with Silver.’

Ross huffed a laugh and left the office. He didn’t stop to say goodbye, just went outside and climbed into his truck and drove straight home. 

He got out and went to the front door, taking a deep breath and collecting himself when he went inside. He found them all on the deck, faces sombre and the kids curled on their mothers’ laps. 

‘Hi.’ He went across to kiss Izzy on the head and then repeated the action with Jeremy. 

‘Hi.’ Elizabeth was drawn and Demelza was blotchy and Ross knew they’d obviously both been crying. ‘It’s been one hell of a day.’

‘Yeah.’ Ross noticed Jim was missing from the group. ‘Where is he?’

’Down on the beach.’ Demelza replied. ‘He’s been on the phone since he got here.’ She smiled, her face wan. ‘He’s also bought his laptop so I guess you’re doing research tonight.’ She looked at Elizabeth. ‘We should get going.’ 

‘Yeah.’ Elizabeth handed Izzy to Ross and got up. He cuddled his daughter to him, feeling her breathe and inhaling her smell as they got ready, collecting the things they would be taking with them. He kissed them all goodbye and waved them off from the front porch before heading back inside and out onto the deck again. Now he could see Jim down on the beach, pacing back and forth and waving one hand around in what looked like a fierce debate. 

Ross went back inside and hunted through the fridge. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast and he was now ravenously hungry. He found a pack of four ribeye steaks that the girls had obviously bought in anticipation of a Sunday barbeque. There was a pack of tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella to go with it and Ross took everything out. As he did, he noticed that Jim had brought more wine and he started with that, opening the bottle and leaving it to breathe for a bit while he made the caprese and got the pan for the steaks on. It was the one thing he actually could cook really well, and he focused on what he was doing, letting his mind empty. 

He heard the sound of Jim’s footsteps on the deck and poured the wine, handing him a glass as he came into the kitchen. Jim gave him a half smile and took it. 

‘Hi.’ His light eyes were full of something that Ross couldn’t identify. ‘How was your day?’

Ross stared at him and then the dam broke and they both started laughing. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim had to put his glass down. ‘Jesus fucking Christ.’

‘Don’t get me started.’ Ross replied. ‘Warleggan’s going to let Silver catch the shark. He’s pretty much letting him write his own paycheck.’ He watched Jim’s face fall and felt terrible. ‘I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you want.’

‘I don’t know anymore.’ Jim sighed. ‘I’m starting to think there is something seriously wrong with this fish. I have never experienced one behaving like this. I’ve been on the phone for the past three hours to everyone I know and they’ve all told me the same thing. This animal is wrong. There could be anything that’s causing this – something environmental or disease. I can’t tell you.’

‘Well, I might have told Warleggan that the only way Silver gets to go after it is if you and I go along.’ Ross took a long drink of his wine. ‘I must be fucking crazy.’

‘You said that?’ Jim looked astonished. ‘You actually volunteered to go with me?’

‘Yeah.’ Ross gave him a wry smile. ‘It must be those goddamned dimples.’ 

‘Well, this is good.’ Jim replied. ‘That way we can at least try and understand what’s going on. When?’

‘Day after tomorrow.’ Ross confirmed. ‘That enough time to get you what you’ll need? I don’t know what kind of equipment you guys use.’

‘I have a few things already.’ Jim looked thoughtful. ‘I’ll get the rest. Don’t worry about that. One day will be fine.’

‘Okay then.’ Ross turned back to the stove. ‘Plates are in there. I don’t know about you but I could eat a horse.’

They took their plates out to the deck and sat and ate and drank the bottle dry and moved onto the next one. The sun went down and the sky turned to a deep velvety blue and Jim got his laptop and started teaching Ross about sharks. They were now side by side, bare feet almost touching under the table.

By the time it was nine o’clock, Ross had a handle on quite a lot more than he had previously. He’d sat and looked at picture after picture Jim had taken on research trips and dives, watched footage of Jim inside a cage that looked far too fragile while two massive Great Whites circled it and even seen him hand feeding one from the back of a fishing boat, glancing back at the camera with a gleeful smile. He looked carefree, blond curls sun burnished and his sunglasses on. There was another man next to him and Ross noted the possessive hand on Jim’s shoulder. He gave Jim a raised eyebrow and Jim smiled. 

‘One of many.’ he chuckled and drank his wine.

‘I can’t believe all of this.’ Ross said. ‘What you’ve done. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be going out to kill it.’

‘If it’s going to be killed anyway, then I want it to have some purpose.’ Jim said. ‘This is an opportunity for me to understand why this has happened.’ 

He leaned over and opened a tab and Ross frowned as he looked at the old newspaper article. 

‘That’s just down the way from us. 1916?’ He frowned. ‘That was ages ago.’

‘But very similar circumstances.’ Jim replied, opening a few more. ‘Right to the shark coming out of the ocean in search of food. There’s some kind of link here, I’m sure of it.’

‘What happened?’ Ross was now curious. 

‘Pretty much the same thing.’ Jim replied. ‘It was holiday season, there were four attacks. Two were in the ocean and two were in a saltwater creek. There’s been a ton of debate as to what kind of shark it was and why they happened. No-one has any definitive evidence. Maybe I can shed some light on it if this turns out to be something tangible. It could be something that’s happening all over the world.’ He opened another tab, and Ross saw another article about an attack in Australia.

‘This is actually scary.’ He leaned in across Jim and the smell of salt and sweat hit him. 

‘Look at this.’ Jim shifted in a little closer and opened a file that showed a world map with clusters of red dots everywhere. ‘These are all the confirmed Great White attacks in history.’

Ross stared at the screen. He was amazed by the distribution, especially along the Eastern seaboard. 

‘That’s not what I expected.’ He leaned back and looked at Jim’s profile, backlit by the deck light. He felt an urge to just say to hell with it and kiss him, but his brain was giving him a serious lecture about appropriate behaviour. 

‘Look at this.’ Jim said and then next thing Ross was looking at a picture of a shark so massive it took his brain a few seconds to reconcile what he was seeing. ‘This is the Phillip’s Island shark. It was twenty-one feet long and over two tons.’ He turned and looked at Ross. ‘I think this might be what we’re dealing with.’

‘Fucking hell.’ Ross couldn’t get over the sheer bulk of the animal. ‘It’s a monster.’

‘No.’ Jim shook his head. ‘It’s an evolutionary miracle. These fish have existed since the Jurassic in one form or another. There used to be another species, Carcharadon Megalodon. That was estimated to be between forty and sixty feet long. That would have made our shark look like a juvenile in comparison.’

‘Jesus.’ Ross’ eyes were wide. ‘Please tell me those are extinct.’

‘Sadly yes.’ Jim had a funny little smile on his face. ‘But I have to tell you, I would be the first one in the water to get a look at it.’

‘You’re nuts.’ Ross chuckled. ‘I think you might actually be clinically insane.’

‘I’m not the lunatic that’s afraid of the water and lives on an island.’ Jim retorted. 

‘It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.’ Ross rebutted. 

‘Now that makes a bizarre amount of sense.’ Jim was smiling. He stretched and Ross could hear his neck pop. ‘Christ, I’m tired.’

‘It’s after nine.’ Ross looked at his watch. ‘We should get some sleep.’

‘So much for our grand plans.’ Jim laughed.

‘They can wait.’ Ross got up and started clearing the remains of dinner. Jim did the same and they carried everything inside. Ross started packing the dishwasher and Jim went back out for his laptop. He came back in and put it away, then came across to Ross. 

‘You need a hand?’ he asked and Ross shook his head. 

‘All done.’ He went to the lights and turned everything off outside and in the living area. Jim was still where he was, leaning against counter. The only light now was the lamp on the table between the couches. ‘You can take the spare room. It’s at the top on the left.’ 

‘Thank you.’ Jim moved across to pick up his bag and that was when Ross’ brain finally got in the game. He realised that he was about to pass up something that he’d been thinking about since Jim had walked down the dock and into the harbour office, and something inside him snapped. 

Jim was just passing him when it did, and Ross reached out without thinking and caught his arm. Jim started and looked at him, their eyes locking. They stood in silence for a few seconds, just staring at each other and then Ross moved and Jim came to meet him halfway, his bag landing on the floor with a thump as their mouths collided and then everything just went still. 

They broke apart, both of them breathing heavily. Ross didn’t give himself a chance to think, to rationalise himself out of this. He wanted it and now his body was responding in a way that said it did too and most insistently at that. He charged back in and Jim let out a sharp breath before they kissed again, bruising their mouths in their desperation. Ross felt Jim’s hand in his hair and heat raced through him. He growled against Jim’s mouth, diving right in and forcing Jim’s mouth open. Jim met him with equal ferocity, his other hand coming to rest at the side of Ross’ neck. Ross got both arms around him and hauled him in, the shift of Jim’s muscles under his hands making him almost dizzy with want. He ran his hands over Jim’s back, down to slide them under his t-shirt and Jim inhaled sharply. 

The kiss turned messy, both of them heedless of anything resembling technique. Ross let go long enough to lower and get his hands under the back of Jim’s thighs, picking him up and slamming him into the cupboard behind them. Jim broke away, his gasp inflaming Ross to the point of no return and he pressed up against him, feeling how hard Jim was already and thrusting up against him, his own cock now aching with arousal. 

‘Ross...’ Jim was starting to pant and Ross nosed at his neck, kissing down the side of it. 

‘I want you.’ He murmured the words into Jim’s skin and felt him shiver. ‘Can I fuck you.’

‘God, yes.’ Jim threw his head back against the cupboard, exposing his throat, and Ross leaned in, licking from the notch at the base of his throat to his jaw, tasting salt. He shifted from the cupboard to the counter, setting Jim down long enough to grab at his t-shirt and pulling it up over his head. Jim lifted his arms to help him and then repeated the action, throwing Ross’ own shirt on the floor. The first heated slide of skin against skin made Ross crazy. He bit down on the slope of Jim’s shoulder, and felt Jim’s hands on his chest, fingers sliding through dense hair. 

Ross pulled back and looked at him, the soft light of the lamp shadowing Jim’s skin and the planes of his muscles. He felt Jim thumb over his nipples and looked down between them, reaching for Jim’s belt and undoing it. Every soft touch was maddening and when Jim leaned down enough to lick over one, Ross nearly went through the roof. He let go, stopping what he was doing and submitting to Jim’s mouth as he sucked on one and then the other, the air cooling and pebbling the skin. Ross watched him, stroking through his hair and then moaning when Jim got one nipple between his teeth and tongued it until it felt like every bit of sensation was focused on that one point of contact between them.

He looked up and Ross could see how huge his pupils were. He refused to be outdone though and went back to Jim’s jeans, popping the buttons until he could get them down, Jim lifting himself up enough for Ross to yank them to mid-thigh, along with the black cotton boxer briefs underneath. Jim’s cock was lying back against his stomach, muscles flexing as he drew harsh breaths, and Ross wrapped his fingers around the shaft, feeling warm velvety skin and slick wetness at the head. Jim placed both hands behind him on the counter. He looked at him, their eyes locking and holding and Ross leaned in again, the kiss lingering this time. 

He tightened his grip and Jim whined. He thrust up into Ross’ hand, his own coming up to tangle his fingers in the hair at the back of Ross’ head. 

‘Fuck…’ He breathed the word and it made heat twist in Ross’ chest. He held eye contact and lowered himself, now dead set on making those soft pants Jim was making turn loud and uncontrolled. He looked up at him as he got to his knees and the unbridled lust on Jim’s face was enough to make him catch his breath. 

Ross smiled up at him, nosing along the line of Jim’s cock. 

‘I might be a bit out of practice.’ He breathed in deeply, the smell of Jim strong in his nose.

‘Right now, I’m so fucking hot for you I actually don’t care if you have no idea what you’re doing.’ Jim laughed, his voice pitching low. 

‘I can work with that.’ Ross breathed and then dragged his tongue up, watching how Jim almost stopped breathing when he flicked his tongue against the underside and then slid his mouth over the head, tasting slick. It was so good, the way Jim’s cock jumped against his tongue. He sucked gently and worked his tongue against the slit, tasting and teasing as he lowered his mouth further. He had been good at this, had learned how to make a man crazy with his mouth and it showed now. Jim was loud, his moans echoing around the empty kitchen and he was clearly stuck trying to balance and thrust up into Ross’ mouth at the same time. Ross pulled off slowly and looked at him. 

‘Don’t stop.’ Jim’s eyes were burning. ‘Make me come.’

Ross smiled even as he went back down. He took his time, moving his head as slowly as he could bear, and every touch make him want more and more until he felt Jim go still and then it was there, the acrid taste burning at the back of his throat as Jim came in his mouth, his strangled cry finally dying off as he went pliant. 

Ross swallowed and pulled off, getting up and wrestling Jim’s clothes the rest of the way down. He then remembered that there were logistics that needed to be overcome and as if reading his mind, Jim nodded at his bag that was still lying on the floor. 

‘Side pocket.’ he instructed. 

Ross left him sitting there and went to the bag, finding a handful of loose condoms and a small bottle of lube secreted where Jim had indicated. He came back with what he needed, chucking the condom on the counter next to Jim. 

‘This does not look good, Dr Hawkins.’ He teased. ‘Anyone would thing you came here tonight with the express purpose of getting laid.’

‘I was hoping.’ Jim’s dimples were shadows on his face. ‘God, I was hoping.’ He watched Ross flip the lid on the bottle and grinned. ‘I really hope you’re planning on cleaning these counters afterwards.’

‘Shut up.’ Ross coated two fingers and went in directly. He eased one in, feeling Jim’s bod give around it. ‘God, you’re tight.’

‘It’s not only you that’s out of practice.’ Jim panted. ‘Fuck, right there…’ He threw his head back and moaned as Ross’ finger drifted over his prostate. 

Ross smiled and went in harder, paying close attention to the way Jim’s whines went up in pitch and his body loosened enough to ease his second finger in. He went to work, waiting until Jim was cursing very creatively before he pulled them out and undid his belt, shoving his jeans and boxers down just enough to get his cock out. Jim had the condom in his hands and he hooked his legs around Ross’ hips and pulled him in, taking Ross’ cock and rolling it on before he looked back up at him. 

‘Good to go.’ He smiled. 

Ross took hold of himself and guided himself in. Jim’s body yielded beautifully, slick tight heat that felt so good Ross had to drop his forehead to Jim’s shoulder as he bottomed out. 

He felt Jim’s hands come up to rest on his shoulders and then his voice was there, warm and low in Ross’ ear. 

‘You definitely don’t have anything to be worried about.’ He sounded wrecked already. 

Ross braced his hands against the counter, then eased out and slammed back in. Jim shouted, locking his ankles at the small of Ross’ back and Ross started a brutal rhythm. He couldn’t stop or slow down or control himself in any way at all. Jim’s nails dug into his skin, his mouth at Ross’ neck and Ross reached up long enough to grab a handful of curls and yank his head back. 

‘Look at me.’ he panted. ‘I want to watch you.’

Jim didn’t look away. He held steady and it kicked everything up into an intensity Ross had never felt before. He kept going, feeling how they were both starting to shake. Between them, Jim’s cock was hard again and Ross could feel the way his body was starting to clench around him. He started to reach for him and Jim shook his head. 

‘No.’ he panted. ‘I’m almost there.’ 

‘Fuck…’ Ross could feel the tightening in his groin, the feeling so powerful it made him lose all sense of everything else as his orgasm hit. He drove in hard, coming all the way inside Jim’s body and feeling how Jim came a few moments later, the tremors making his own climax that much more intense and their cries competing to drown each other out.  
They slowed and stopped, still watching each other. Ross leaned in and Jim met him, the kiss now something else completely. 

‘Well, that was okay.’ Jim’s voice was teasing. ‘I’d definitely say that you don’t seem to have forgotten anything important.’

Ross stared at him and then burst out laughing. He eased out, taking the condom off and disposing of it. Then he came back and held out his arms and Jim practically fell into them. 

‘How about I take you to bed?’ he asked and Jim smiled and kissed him. 

‘I like the sound of that.’ He nudged Ross’ nose with his own. ‘But aren’t we supposed to be getting some sleep?’

‘Fuck sleep.’ Ross laughed, heaving Jim up off the counter and carrying him to the stairs. ‘I’ve done okay without it so far. Besides, if my stars say that I get eaten in the next couple of days, I want to make damn sure I fuck you all the way through till morning.’ 

They laughed their way up the stairs and into his bedroom, falling over onto the bed and going right back to where they had started.


	7. Preparing for The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to go see Silver

The sun came up around five but it failed to make Ross even so much as stir. He remained asleep until the smell of bacon drifted upstairs and his stomach made the decision for him, waking him up. Ross lifted his head, his brain registering the way his body ached in all the right places and making him smile as he recalled the rather energetic evening he’d passed in a certain person’s company. Jim had proven to be very keen on them getting to know all about just what drove them both crazy and now Ross stretched and thought about how he really wasn’t about to let go of what he’d just found. It only lasted a few minutes though and then reality took over and his smile disappeared as he contemplated just what they were preparing to embark on and what he’d let himself in for. 

He got up, noting that the bed was empty and checking his watch to see that it was a little before seven. Jim was obviously up and had already started his day, a fact confirmed by the damp towel on the rail in the bathroom when he finally managed to drag himself out of his very rumpled bed. He also saw that the used condoms were now in the trash and grinned at the evidence of what had passed the night before. Round one had turned into two, three and four in quick succession before they’d finally called it a night. Still, it had been enough to knock them both out cold and Ross felt more rested than he had since he’d woken by Dwight’s phone call on what felt like a very distant morning. 

He came downstairs in a fresh uniform, the shower washing the dried bodily fluids from his skin and invigorating him enough that he was actually bouncing a little. In the kitchen he found bacon in the warmer and a batch of rolls in the oven set to a timer and smiled. 

He could definitely get used to this. 

Jim was on the deck, feet tucked up under him and a cup of coffee on at his elbow. He was talking to someone on Skype and Ross was about to leave him to it when Jim beckoned him over. He approached and saw that the woman on the other side was an older and more ash blonde version of Jim. 

‘Mom, this is Ross.’ Jim said and the woman waved and gave Ross a cheery smile. 

‘Hello.’ She had a look on her face that reminded Ross of whenever Grace heard he was seeing someone. It was obviously the universal face of mothers everywhere. 

‘Hi Mrs Hawkins.’ he replied, feeling for all the world like a teenage boy meeting his paramour’s parents for the first time, which essentially he was. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

‘For God’s sake, call me Rose.’ she snickered. ‘Mrs Hawkins is my mother-in-law.’ She looked immensely pleased. ‘You’re a police officer?’

‘Yes, ma’am. Amity PD.’ Ross replied, now feeling a little like he was being put on display. 

‘Good.’ Rose gave Jim an arch look. ‘It beats all the penniless research scientists Jim normally fucks. You wouldn’t really call what he does with them dating.’ This was followed by a wicked chuckle.

‘Jesus Christ, Mother.’ Jim protested. ‘Cut it out.’

‘Only if you bring him to dinner.’ Rose countered. ‘Your father will be in Manhattan next week. He’s bringing the plane so you have no excuses.’ She gave Ross a brilliant smile. ‘Come for the weekend. Now I have to go. Trudy and I are chairing the flower show this morning and I need to get dressed.’ She blew a kiss at the screen. ‘Love you, sweetheart.’

‘Love you too, Mom.’ Jim replied and signed off, his ears now a little red. ‘Sorry. She’s a bit of a handful.’

‘You look like her.’ Ross replied, leaning down to kiss him. He kept it light, but Jim had other plans and grabbed him by the shirt, turning the kiss into something a lot filthier. 

‘Now you can go.’ he breathed when they separated. 

‘What did she mean by your father is bringing the plane?’ Ross was curious. 

‘He flies to Boston pretty much every week from San Francisco.’ Jim replied. ‘So he got himself a pilot’s license and has his own Cessna.’

‘Christ.’ Ross stared at him. ‘You weren’t kidding.’

‘No.’ Jim grinned. ‘So how about it, Chief? You want to come meet the in-laws?’

‘Maybe.’ Ross sat down next to him and stole Jim’s coffee. It was heavy on the cream and sugar, just like he took his. ‘What have you been doing besides making my kitchen smell like heaven?’

‘I needed to catch a couple of people in different time zones.’ Jim replied. ‘I also had to get some stuff sent over from the office. I have a couple of things that might help us.’

‘Good.’ Ross sighed. ‘I have a feeling we’re going to need all the help we can get.’

*********

They went into town after breakfast. Ross drove them down to the docks and they parked and walked right along to the end and the ramshackle boat house that Silver owned. The door was open and jazz was drifting out. It was a fairly incongruous scene, the space inside crowded with fishing gear and steam that stank of fish coming from a huge steel pot on a burner at the far side. Silver was minding it, dressed in yellow rubbers with a huge pair of black boots on his feet. He looked up as they came in and grinned at them. 

‘Morning, Chief.’ He sounded chipper. ‘Thought you’d be in to come and see me.’ His eyes fell on Jim and they hardened. ‘What’s the eco warrior doing here?’

‘Didn’t Warleggan tell you?’ Ross said evenly. ‘Jim’s going to be coming with us.’

‘Like hell, he is.’ Silver replied. ‘I told the mayor straight. I don’t want no mates on this trip. I don’t plan on sharing that ten thousand dollars.’

‘That’s not going to be a problem.’ Jim snapped, clearly annoyed. ‘Killing sharks isn’t my thing.’

‘No.’ Silver sounded ever so slightly mocking. ‘You want to save them all.’

‘Damn right.’ Jim’s face was stern, not giving an inch. Ross looked from one to the other and then decided to intervene. 

‘Is this going to be a problem.’

‘No.’ Silver’s sharp smile was back. He picked up a piece of rope and chucked it at Jim. ‘Just tie me a sheep shank.’

‘Jesus.’ Jim huffed. ‘I haven’t had to pass basic seamanship in a while.’ His hands were working too quickly for Ross to track. ‘You didn’t say how short you want it.’ He twisted the last piece, pulled the knot taut and chucked it back at Silver. ‘How’s that.’

‘You know what you’re doing?’ Silver asked. ‘This is sharking, not riding around in that fancy boat you got tied up down the dock.’

‘I know what I’m doing.’ Jim’s eyes were hard. Ross was surprised by the transformation. ‘I’ve been on boats since I could walk and I’m not afraid of what’s out there.’ His own smile now had an edge to it. ‘I know sharks. I also know that the reason you’re so keen is that so do you. Intimately.’ The last word was bitten off and it had a visible effect on Silver. 

‘You’ll be laughing out the other side of your face when that big fish does a number on you, boy.’ he sneered. ‘All your education ain’t going to protect you from that.’

‘We’ll see.’ Jim looked at Ross. ‘You want to wrap this up? All this posturing is boring me.’

‘Are you in or not?’ Ross asked, now addressing Silver. ‘Because we can find another fisherman if you aren’t.’

‘Like hell you will.’ Silver was still looking at Jim. ‘Fine, bring your college boy along. Should be fun seeing what he’s going to do.’ He walked off to the back of the boathouse and Jim snorted. 

‘I’ve got shit to do.’ he said to Ross. ‘I don’t have time to stand around and have a pissing competition with a dinosaur.’ He turned and stalked out the boathouse and Ross was left by himself in the middle. 

‘Fuck.’ he muttered. The last thing he needed was conflict but it looked like that was exactly what he was going to get. He walked over to where Silver was fishing boiled shark jaws out of the out with a large pair of tongs. 

‘He’s going to be trouble, Chief.’ he mused. ‘Boy’s got his head up his ass. The only good shark is a dead shark.’

‘He thinks there’s a reason this one is acting like it is.’ Ross explained. ‘Jim just wants to find out why.’

‘Well, he can do that once I’ve harpooned the damn thing.’ Silver dumped the jaws in a steel sink. ‘But if he tries to get between me and my catch, I’ll throw his ass overboard.’

‘He won’t.’ Ross assured him. ‘Now let’s talk when.’

‘Tomorrow morning.’ Silver replied. ‘We’ll leave with first tide. You bring the beer and the food. We’ll take the Orca. I don’t trust that fancy get up of his and it ain’t built for fishing.’ 

Ross nodded and turned to go, stopping when Silver spoke again. 

‘You sure you want in on this Chief?’ His eyes were twinkling. ‘We all know about you and the water. What’s in it for you?’

‘Making sure that you two won’t kill each other out there.’ Ross retorted and walked off. 

He found Jim outside, leaning on the rail and watching a pair of seagulls squabble over a piece of kelp. 

‘Well, that went well.’ he said, going to lean alongside him. 

‘I don’t get people like that.’ Jim shook his head. ‘I mean, I know what happened to him was shit but it doesn’t warrant the one man vendetta he’s got going.’

‘What exactly did happen?’ Ross has heard rumours, but he didn’t want to ask and nobody had ever volunteered the story. ‘And how the hell do you know?’

‘He’s in our archive.’ Jim replied. ‘We keep reports on every shark attack that’s happened since people started recording them.’

‘What?’ Ross stared at him. ‘You mean his leg…’

‘Yeah.’ Jim looked at him, squinting against the sun. ‘It was a diving trip. He got attacked spear fishing off Montauk and the shark too it off at the knee. Thankfully he got medical attention, but it was pretty nasty.’ He shrugged. ‘I know he blames the shark and he probably thinks he’s performing a public service, but that’s not how I see it.’

‘You don’t have to go.’ Ross said and Jim looked back at the water. 

‘Yeah, I do.’ This time Ross got a wry smile. ‘Besides, who’s going to hold your hand out there?’

It broke the tension between them and Ross chuckled. 

‘Asshole.’ He gave Jim an affectionate shove in the arm. ‘I seem to recall you not being so fucking cocky last night.’

‘Only because I have a weakness for that mouth of yours.’ Jim replied, turning so he was looking steadily at Ross. ‘That’s all this is, Poldark.’

‘Sure it is.’ Ross was smiling. ‘That’s why your mom invited me for the weekend.’

‘She just wants to marry me off.’ Jim retorted. ‘Any man will do at this point in my life. She’s terrified of me being left on the shelf.’ His eyes were saying something else though, their blue-green depths luring Ross in with a promise of wicked things. 

‘I need to go to the station.’ he said, not without regret. ‘I still have a job to do. I can’t go chasing around all day.’

‘No.’ Jim was smiling. ‘But I did ask you to dinner tonight. You still coming?’ The way he said coming sent a shiver down Ross’ spine. 

‘Actually, I think you’re going to be the one coming.’ He moved into Jim’s space, his eyes locking onto his. ‘More than once, if I have anything to say about it.’ 

‘Fuck.’ Jim was staring at Ross’ mouth. ‘You really know how to sweet talk a guy.’

‘I’ll be done at six.’ Ross stepped back and smiled at the regret in Jim’s eyes. ‘I’ll pick you up then. Dress up.’

‘Huh?’ Jim was smiling but it was a little bemused. ‘Where are we going?’

‘You said you wanted fish.’ Ross grinned as he walked off. Jim laughed and went back to looking at the water. 

Ross left him there, going back to the truck and driving into town to the station. He and Dwight were on the day shift again, the summer deputies having departed once their job was done at the end of the previous day. 

Prudie was also back behind her desk and she and Dwight were deep in conversation. They both grinned at him when he came in. 

‘You are not going to believe what happened last night.’ Dwight said. ‘Al and Lou decided to have another go.’

‘Well, it obviously wasn’t fatal.’ Ross snorted, going to pour himself some coffee. ‘What did those two idiots do?’

‘They took the ten pound sirloin Jolene was going to cook and went out to Shelly Point.’ Dwight said. ‘They hooked the damn thing onto a twenty pound chain and chucked it off the pier and waited. Honest to God about half an hour later, the son of a bitch takes it. The trouble is he also took the pier with him and they both ended up in the drink. Al said he’s pretty sure he had a coronary.’

‘But they made it out?’ Ross was appalled at their stupidity. 

‘Barely.’ Dwight snickered. ‘Pity he didn’t eat their asses.’ 

‘Dumb bastards.’ Ross muttered. ‘They could have been killed.’ He sipped his coffee. ‘And it’s a she. At least that’s what Jim reckons.’

‘That’s it!’ Prudie snapped her fingers. ‘I’ve been looking at you wondering what’s different. You had sex with him, didn’t you?’

‘What?’ Dwight gave Ross a surprised look. ‘Did you?’

‘Jesus Christ.’ Ross stomped off, blushing furiously at having been caught out. ‘Get back to work, both of you.’ He got to his office door. ‘And my sex life is off limits as a topic of conversation!’ he could still hear them laughing over the sound of the slamming door. 

*********

Jim stood on deck taking inventory. He had a fair amount of equipment on his yacht, although he’d had to ask the Institute to send out a shark cage. 

He checked over his scuba gear, making sure it was all in working order. He knew Ross would probably have a fit, but he wanted the chance to get in the water if he could. He had a small internal debate about the mix in his tank. He spent his off time wreck diving and it was his usual mix, and for a moment he debated changing but then decided to stick with it. It meant being able to go deep if he needed to, although he wasn’t sure that being down in the water with the shark they were after was the best idea. 

The tank was approved and the next was the tracking gear. Jim knew the likelihood of the shark coming through alive was minimal, not with the entire island out for its blood, but if he had any influence at all, it would be to keep it alive and that would mean trying to get a tag on it so he could follow its movements. The program on his laptop would track the shark through readings sent from the tag’s transmitter that would ping back to the receiver and then feed the data to the program. There were plenty of acoustic data receivers along the Eastern seaboard and they would pick up the transmitted signal every time the shark came within range and this would then be sent via satellite to their monitoring system in Boston. 

He got lost in his preparations and by the time Charlie approached the boat with a quizzical look on his face, it was midday and the sun was beating down. Jim had taken his shirt off, walking around barefoot on deck and he looked up when Charlie called his name, pushing his sunglasses up on his head and smiling at the harbour master. 

‘What’s up?’ He came to the side of the yacht.

‘There’s a delivery for you.’ Charlie jerked a thumb in the direction of the harbour parking lot. From the city.’ 

‘Great.’ Jim replied. ‘You want to send them on through?’

‘Will do.’ Charlie was already on the move. 

About ten minutes later, Jim spotted the delivery men with his cage. It was state of the art, made from steel tubing and safety mesh with a gridded floor and designed to flat even if it came unattached from the boat. He waved them over and there was a conversation before the delivery men left the cage on the harbour wall for him to hand over to Silver the next morning and went on their way before the rest of the afternoon was spent in research and planning, punctuated by a brief lunch and a small amount of daydreaming of hazel eyes. 

*********

Ross closed the truck door and walked up the shingle path to the house. It was not a big one, fishing being low paid even out on the island, and Ross thought about how awful it must now be to be in Cheryl’s position and facing an extremely uncertain future. The other families in the fishing community had rallied round and when he was let in by Elizabeth he looked into the kitchen and found a pile of food, the traditional accompaniment to the visits that she’d no doubt been receiving. 

‘How are things going?’ he asked and Elizabeth shrugged. She looked tired and he gave her a quick hug before she nodded to the door that led to the bedrooms at the back of the house. 

‘Demelza’s in there with her. The boys are out in the back garden and Izzy’s taking a nap.’ She sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair. ‘It’s been hell.’ She frowned as she looked at him. ‘You wanted to talk to us?’

‘You’ve probably heard that Silver’s been given the green light.’ Ross explained. ‘He’s going out tomorrow.’

‘I did.’ Elizabeth gave him a stern look. ‘Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.’

‘Liz…’ Ros started and her face fell.

‘No!’ She was sharp. ‘Absolutely not!’

‘I already said I would.’ Ross tried to reason with her but then she burst into tears and before he knew it, Demelza was coming out the room and she took one look at Elizabeth’s tears and gave Ross a glare that made him take a step back.

‘You asshole.’ she hissed. ‘You can’t do this.’

Ross sighed. 

‘I need to.’ He huffed and tried to think of how to explain. ‘I am responsible for the safety of the people in this town. I’ve already had four of them die on my watch. I need to make sure this is done properly.’

‘Why you?’ Elizabeth was plaintive, sniffling from the safety of Demelza’s arms. ‘Why can’t someone else do it?’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Ross assured her. ‘Jim’s going with me and as much as Silver can be a bit odd, he knows what he’s doing.’

‘It should be George on that goddamned boat.’ Demelza was in rage mode, Ross could tell from the way she’d gone white and how her blue eyes were flashing. ‘This is his fault. If he’d only listened to you in the first place.’

‘Yeah, well wishes and horses spring to mind.’ Ross sighed. ‘Look, I’ll be going out tomorrow and then coming back tomorrow night. It’s just a day.’

‘Fuck.’ Demelza’s face was set in a resigned expression. ‘You hate boats. Please tell me you’re not going just to chase that ass.’

That made Ross smile and he got a pair of watery ones in return.

‘I’m not.’ He went and wrapped both arms around them as best he could. ‘Although I have to tell you both that as far as asses go, it’s phenomenal.’

‘I can’t believe it took a crisis to get you laid.’ Elizabeth muttered into his chest and now Demelza started giggling, the tension of the past three days finally dissolving. 

‘You’ll stay in contact, right?’ She looked at him and Ross nodded. 

‘Every step of the way.’ He squeezed them hard and then let them go. ‘I’m going to go pack and then head over to the harbour. I just wanted to come by and say I’ll see you tomorrow night.’

‘What do we tell the kids?’ Elizabeth asked and he laughed. 

‘Tell them, I’ve gone fishing.’ he replied. 

********

Jim finally got done and went below to shower and get changed. Ross had said to dress up, but he hadn’t said how much so he went with his tried and tested combination of jeans and crisp white shirt. He came back up on deck, his hair still damp and looked at the way the sun was starting to dip down towards the horizon. Boats were coming back in, but they were very few in number and he knew that most people had been avoiding the ocean like the plague. 

The Orca was the last one to pass by Jim’s bow and he gave it a critical once over. She was a classic trawler shape, her cabin set high with the option to pilot inside and out. There was a single mast set just behind the wheelhouse and had two fighting chairs at the back. Her hull was a dull green, in need of a new coat of paint and she looked scruffy all over but Jim knew better than to judge a book by its cover. 

Silver was at the top helm and he nodded as he passed and Jim nodded back. He’d dealt with men like Silver before, grand old masters of fishing from a time when the going was still good and stocks hadn’t been depleted by pollution and overfishing the way they were now. He knew they regarded environmentalists like himself as the enemy and it would no doubt be a tricky business to work together. 

‘You planning on standing there and watching the sunset all night, Doc?’ Ross’ voice broke through his thoughts and he turned to see him at the side of the boat, looking rather gorgeous in jeans and a black shirt, his short hair looking like he’d actually brushed it. 

‘Great.’ He laughed. ‘Look at us. We look like chess pieces.’

‘You could always take the shirt off.’ Ross laughed. He was hovering at the dive platform, looking like he wanted to come aboard but not quite having the courage to. 

‘You want the grand tour?’ Jim offered. ‘I can show you that boats aren’t all scary.’

‘Not sure.’ Ross was still regarding the Hispaniola with suspicion. ‘You sure it won’t sink?’

‘I promise it won’t.’ Jim replied. He came down and held out a hand. ‘Trust me, Chief. You’re in safe hands here.’

Ross sighed and stepped on, taking Jim’s offered hand and following him up onto the deck. 

‘She’s big.’ he remarked and Jim nodded. 

‘She’s also safe and it will be good to find your way around before we go out on Silver’s tub tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, I’m not looking forward to that.’ Ross pulled a face. ‘It looks like it should have been scrapped years ago.’ He was a little unsteady on his feet and Jim went to him and put his hands on his hips, hat flaring through him at the contact between them. ‘Crap. I feel like the kids must have when they started walking.’ 

‘You’ll get your sea legs.’ Jim replied, still steadying him. ‘It just takes a while.’ He looked up into eyes turned amber by the setting sun and felt his heart skip a beat. ‘Now, about dinner.’

‘Fuck dinner.’ Ross said and leaned down, taking Jim completely by surprise as he kissed him. He fell right into it, his heart starting to hammer in his chest and every sense intensifying. Ross smelled good, like sum warmed cedar, and it made his head spin. 

Eventually Jim pushed him back, and smiled at him. 

‘No.’ He ran both hands down Ross’ chest, feeling hard muscles under his hands. ‘I need to eat. And so do you. We both could do with a normal night off from this.’

‘All right.’ Ross nosed at him. ‘But I am fucking you stupid later.’

‘Deal.’ Jim stepped away from him. ‘So where are we going?’

‘Somewhere we can be left in peace.’ Ross laughed. ‘It’s a place down the other side of the island. The girls go there a lot.’ 

They left the boat and walked to the truck, wandering into each other’s path and bumping shoulders. Jim noticed that Ross hadn’t registered the cage on the wharf and decided to leave that until morning. 

They drove out of town and along the shore road like they were going to Ross’ place, but then took a turn off that led them inland and over a crest of low hills and through the farmland at the interior of the island. The restaurant turned out to be down a sandy lane that led to a small beach, its plate glass windows taking in the amazing view. Jim got out and looked at the clapboard building and grinned. 

‘It’s quaint.’ He waited for Ross to lock the truck and come to him. 

‘It’s the best place on the island.’ Ross replied. ‘You’re going to love it.’

It turned out he was right. Jim had eaten in a lot of high end restaurants, but this was superb. They sat and ate and drank far too much wine and talked non-stop for the next four hours about nothing and everything and he knew that it was probably the best first date he’d ever had. 

Ross was so much more than what he seemed, funny and intelligent and full of stories that held Jim captive. He had such an engaging way of talking that the time seemed to fly past and by the time the waiter bought their dessert, Jim was completely and utterly smitten, not that he’d had far to go.

‘You’re completely wasted as a policeman.’ He said, breaking the top of his crème brulee. ‘You should be running this town.’

Ross laughed. 

‘I don’t have the patience for dealing with idiots like George and those subservient assholes he’s got on the council.’ he replied. ‘And I like my job. It makes me feel good to know I help people.’

‘Is that why’re you coming with tomorrow?’ Jim asked and he saw something pass over Ross face before he ducked his head and paid far too much attention to his chocolate cream pie. ‘You feel responsible for what happened?’

‘It happened on my watch.’ Ross sighed and put his fork down. ‘All of this.’

‘None of which is your fault.’ Jim leaned over and put his hand over Ross’. ‘Nobody can predict shit like this. It just happens sometimes and what came after is purely down to the fact that your hands were tied by that asshole Warleggan.’

‘Everyone keeps telling me that.’ Ross countered. ‘But it doesn’t make me feel any less responsible.’ He looked so downcast, Jim felt a rush of anger that he’d been out in the position to even think he was the cause of what had happened.

‘Well, you’re not.’ He inhaled deeply. ‘Now eat your damn dessert, Ross. I’m not spending my last night ashore with you watching you mope.’

Ross looked at him, and then a small smile stole across his face. 

‘And if I do?’ he asked and Jim was overjoyed to hear a little bit of defiance in his voice. 

‘Then I’m feeding you to the fucking shark myself.’ he replied. 

‘Nice.’ Ross was smiling properly now. ‘I might just change my mind now. Let you go out with Silver by yourself.’

‘Christ.’ Jim laughed. ‘Then nobody’s coming back alive.’

They finished eating their dessert, got coffee and then argued over the bill until Jim physically commandeered it and handed the waiter his card. 

‘You should have let me pay.’ Ross grumbled. 

‘I asked you remember.’ Jim pointed out. ‘So just shut up and let me. You can pay me back later, in kind. Also you might want to google my family to find out who you’re literally getting into bed with.’

That made Ross’ eyes go wide, and the look he gave Jim clearly said he wasn’t sure if he was joking. Jim smiled back at him. It was refreshing having this kind of reaction for a change. Then Ross snorted and the illusion was shattered.

‘How about I don’t.’ he retorted. ‘How about we just pretend we’re two guys on a normal date instead of two guys on a date discussing the fact that one is a millionaire and the other is the sheriff of a town now colloquially known as Sharksville.’ 

That brought Jim up short and he noticed that Ross’ hazel eyes had a wicked sparkle in them. 

‘So you do know how to use the Internet.’ It came out slightly accusatory. 

‘I was a New York PD detective for five years, Jim.’ Ross replied. ‘I know how to do my research. And it’s not like the Hawkins Shipping Company is difficult to track down.’

‘True.’ Jim smiled. ‘So, does this mean you don’t want to get involved?’

‘No.’ Ross replied and now he was the one who took Jim’s hand. ‘But it does meant that I am now just more curious as to how you got here.’

‘What on Amity?’ Jim couldn’t resist. ‘That’s easy. I was the only person in the office.’

‘Funny.’ Ross narrowed his eyes at him and Jim’s stomach gave a pleasant lurch. ‘When we get back from our little fishing trip, I want to know all about you Dr Hawkins.’ 

‘Likewise.’ Jim replied. 

**********

They drive back was slow. Ross stopped a couple of times so Jim could get out and go scouting along the shoreline. He knew it was a long shot, but he also knew that there were features of the island that would prove more attractive to a feeding Great White than others. 

They were now on a rocky point, standing in the dark and looking down over the beach below. 

‘What are we looking for?’ Ross asked, his face momentarily lit by the flare of his lighter. Jim had been a little surprised by the fact that he was a smoker, but he had a tendency to have one every now and then and so he stole one from the pack in Ross’ pocket. Ross lit it for him and Jim inhaled and then gestured at the coastline. 

‘The topography.’ He walked down a little further and Ross followed him. ‘See how the water moves? It tells you a lot about what is down there.’

‘You said it uses deep water channels.’ Ross blew out a stream of smoke. ‘The pond is deep. It gets dredged out.’ 

‘Yeah, that still bothers me.’ Jim huffed. ‘Great whites aren’t known for coming into brackish water. It’s always been the one thing I don’t agree with about the Jersey killings.’

‘It didn’t hang around either.’ Ross shivered as he remembered. ‘It just flipped the dinghy, grabbed the kid and fucked off.’

‘I’ve heard stories.’ Jim replied. ‘In Cape Town the fishermen used to call them Tommy sharks and talk about them jumping right out of the water and into the fishing boats. Nobody believed them until someone saw them actually breaching right out of the water. They use deep water channels there too when they hunt seals. They come up right underneath and they accelerate so quickly, they get right out the water. It’s an incredible thing to see, these fish that top one or two tons flying through the air like that.’

‘That’s really not what I wanted to know.’ Ross huffed. ‘Jesus fucking Christ, flying sharks.’

Jim chuckled. 

‘We should probably get back.’ he said and Ross nodded and led the way back to the truck. 

They arrived at the harbour and Jim sat and looked at Ross. 

‘You coming in?’ he asked and Ross laughed. 

‘You’re going to really need to convince me.’ he replied. Jim smiled and leaned across, getting Ross’ shirt in his hand and using it pull him close enough to kiss, taking his time and running his tongue over Ross’ lower lip, smiling against his mouth at the way Ross inhaled sharply. 

Jim pulled back and looked at him. 

‘How’s that?’ he said and Ross smiled. 

‘I said goodbye to the kids this afternoon.’ He sighed. ‘Told them daddy’s going fishing.’ 

‘Does that mean you don’t need to go home?’ Jim asked. 

‘No.’ Ross replied. ‘I got my bag in the back.’ 

‘Good.’ Jim kissed him again and this time he eased Ross’ mouth open, licking into his mouth and reaching up to rest his hand at the back of Ross’ neck to hold him still. Ross let him in, responding and the kiss deepened until it turned rough, both of them biting at each other. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim let his head fall back as Ross kissed down the side of his neck, making heat flash through his chest. ‘Maybe we need to take this inside.’ He was already stupidly hard and his cock was being very insistent about the fact that it wanted a lot more than he was currently getting. 

Ross ran his tongue over Jim’s pulse point, biting just hard enough to make him want to whine a little. 

‘I know this is just a ruse.’ He breathed the words into Jim’s skin. ‘You just want to get me on that damn boat.’ His hand was already on Jim’s thigh, sliding up until it was on his cock and Jim’s breathing hitched and tremored. 

‘We can’t fuck in the truck.’ He huffed a soft laugh when Ross gave him an indignant look. ‘Come on. I have a very nice bunk on the boat.’

‘Fine.’ Ross grumbled and they disentangled themselves and got his bag out the back. 

They made it to the boat and Jim went aboard first, guiding Ross on and then dragging him inside. He took the bag from Ross’ hand and led him down the stairs to the master cabin he occupied and watched as Ross stared around him when he put the lights on. 

‘Jesus.’ Ross sounded surprised. ‘This is like an actual room.’

‘Yup.’ Jim set the bag down on the floor and then moved to place one hand to Ross’ chest, shoving him hard enough to make him fall backward onto the bed. 

Ross looked up and watched him, hazel eyes now trained on him. Jim smiled and made a production of unbuttoning his shirt, stripping it off slowly and chucking it on the deck. He moved to the bed, getting on and crawling to kneel over Ross, his curls hanging in his face. He blew them out of his eyes and Ross smiled. He caught Jim by the back of his neck and pulled him down, kissing him hard and taking control. His hands ran down Jim’s chest, rubbing over his nipples and down to his belt. 

‘Slow this time.’ he murmured. ‘I want his to go all night.’

‘I can do that.’ Jim breathed and then closed his eyes and shivered as Ross pulled him up far enough to replace his fingers with his mouth, his tongue a slow delicious torture that lit him up inside. He rested on his hands, and Ross moved from one side to the other and back again until Jim felt like he was going crazy from it. 

Ross traced a slow circle with his tongue, flicking gently, and it was enough to prompt Jim to sit up, now desperate for more. 

‘Take your damn clothes off.’ He moved off of Ross and got started on his laces. Ross was doing the same, boots sailing off the bed and onto the floor, followed by socks and belts and his shirt. Then he pounced, pinning Jim to the bed and wrestling his undone jeans down to his knees, enough to get his hand on Jim’s cock. 

Jim drew a short breath through gritted teeth, the feeling of Ross’ hand working him in sure strokes enough to make him grip the bedcovers in both hands and pant. Ross watched him, leaning on one elbow before coming in to kiss him again. Jim let him, melting into it and getting horribly aroused by the taste of Ross’ mouth and the way he was slowly rubbing his thumb over the head of Jim’s cock. 

‘Fuck…’ He looked up into hazel depths that were watching him intently. ‘This is nuts, you know that.’

‘I know.’ Ross didn’t stop, just slowed and quickened by turns and kept their eyes locked. ‘Two fucking days and I’m already fucking gone on you.’

‘Yeah?’ Jim’s smile was blissful, every thought in his head fading out as the way Ross was touching him took over. ‘You know that Boston is totally commutable to here, right?’

‘Don’t fucking tell me that.’ Ross licked over his mouth and Jim shivered, opening automatically and letting him in. Their tongues tangled for a few minutes and then Ross was gone, his mouth trailing down Jim’s chest, stopping to suck one nipple at a time, teeth scraping lightly over them until Jim wanted to scream. He was so close already, every part of his body feeling like it was being stretched taut. He looked down as Ross kissed down his stomach, hazel eyes flashing at him once before he got to Jim’s cock and did a slow lick from base to tip. 

‘Jesus, Ross.’ Jim could barely speak. ‘Just fucking do it already.’ He’d discovered that Ross had a predilection for edging him to the point of insanity and while it was wonderful, it also made him a little…well, insane. 

Ross lapped at the head of his cock and then looked up at him. 

‘Lube.’ It was an order and Jim scrabbled around on the shelf behind the bed to grab it, thanking his lucky starts that he’d planned ahead. He threw it down and Ross flipped the cap and emptied it over his cock and then went back to jerking him off, dragging two fingers through the excess and sliding them home with excruciating slowness. He curled his fingers up, the pads dragging over Jim’s prostate and the torture began. 

‘Oh, you son of a bitch…’ Jim grabbed for the shelf, hanging on as his body jerked and shook uncontrollably. Ross was merciless, working that spot inside him until Jim was ready to blow as he was brought to the edge again and again. He could feel it gathering, the slow burn of this so much more intense than his normal orgasms. The fact that he was still trapped by his jeans made it even better, and when Ross started really jerking him off, it escalated quickly and before he knew it, Jim was yelling his head off as he came so hard he nearly passed out, his body bearing down on Ross’ fingers that were still working him to the point of overstimulation and his own cum hitting him in the face.

He lay there panting and felt Ross pull his fingers out, before his jeans were hauled off and he was manhandled onto his stomach. A sharp smack to the backside woke him up enough to get into position, on hands and knees air as Ross leaned over him to grab a condom, ripping it open and putting it on. There was more lube and then Ross’ cock was there, pushing inside him before driving home in one solid thrust. Ross was thick and hard as stone and the feeling went all the way through him. Jim started moaning, shameless in his appreciation, and Ross came with him. His deep growls only made it better, hearing him lose control like that. Jim clenched hard around him and got another swat on the ass appreciation before Ross grabbed him by the hips and started really pounding into him. 

‘That’s it.’ Ross’ voice was rough. ‘Fuck, I love your ass.’

Jim started laughing, all his hormones doing a happy dance as Ross’ cock nailed him just right. 

‘I feel the same about your cock.’ he panted back and Ross shoved him down with a hand between his shoulder blades, head on his forearms and ass in the air as he pushed back onto Ross’ cock. ‘Fuck, yeah. Make me take it.’

‘Come on.’ Ross started jackhammering him, every stroke making Jim see stars. ‘I want you to come all over me.’ His fingers were digging in and Jim preyed fervently that he’d have bruises the next day. If he was going to go out, that’s the way he’d want to go – bruised and happy and pretty sure he was falling head over heels in love after only two days.

The sound of their bodies impacting was loud in the cabin, the smell of them thickening as it got more desperate, both of the now almost shouting as they raced each other to the edge. Jim reached down to touch himself, a few strokes all he needed before he came almost violently. He kicked Ross off, and he slammed all the way in and arched back as he followed. 

They finally stilled, both of them gasping for breath. 

‘Jesus.’ Ross sounded broken. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever come that hard.’

‘It’s just because you haven’t done it in a while.’ Jim gave a breathless laugh. ‘But I’m still taking that as a compliment.’ 

‘You should.’ Ross eased out and fell back down on the bed, removing the condom and tying it off. He kicked off his jeans and boxers and stretched out an arm so Jim could come lie with his head on his shoulder, kissing his damp hair. They lay like that, getting their breath back and staring at the roof of the cabin. 

Ross turned his head and Jim looked up at him. Their eyes met and then they were kissing again, sloppy in their fucked out state and neither giving a damn. Ross got hold of him and moved Jim back on top of him. 

Jim pulled back long enough to look at him. 

‘God, I want you.’ He breathed the words into Ross’ open mouth. ‘Fuck me all night.’

Ross grabbed a handful of curls and yanked him back in, the kiss bruising in its intensity. He ran his other hand down Jim’s sweat drenched skin and then two fingers were back inside him and Jim whined. It was all so much, so good, and he never wanted it to stop. 

Thankfully, it turned out Ross was just getting started.


	8. Three Men On A Boat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They head off into uncertain waters.

Silver was up before dawn, doing his checks of the Orca and getting all his gear stowed aboard. He wasn’t expecting the other two to be up early. Christ knew that overeducated eco-shit asshole who’d probably never done an honest day’s work in his life probably wasn’t used to getting up when decent men were starting their day. The chief was a decent man, but he was summer people. He didn’t know the island, didn’t understand it the way worked, the way they would all starve unless this problem got sorted out. Leaving the damn fish alive would kill Amity as surely as it had killed those four people. Silver saw what they were doing as a vital community service.

He spent some time prepping his barrels and harpoons. It wasn’t the way most men fished nowadays, but it had been good enough for his father and it was good enough for him. He didn’t hold with these modern notions of cruelty. As far as he was concerned, sharks didn’t feel a damn thing, their brains hardwired for nothing but eating and swimming.

No doubt Hawkins would have something to say about that, spout some bullshit about animal rights and suchlike. As far as Silver was concerned, they had all given up their rights when that bastard had taken his leg. He’d felt immense satisfaction putting a spear through its eye and its jaws now hung in pride of place over his bed. 

He looked up at the sky, seeing how it was turning silver at the edges and knowing it was going to be a perfect day. That made him feel good and he started whistling a jaunty little tune as he carried on with his checks. 

**********

Ross was stuck in the shower.

At six foot one, he wasn’t the tallest he could have been but showers on yachts were clearly designed with men Jim’s size in mind and now he was trying to rinse his armpits and not knock himself out at the same time while still getting giddy every time his hands met skin that was slick with reactivated saliva.

He finally managed to get out without breaking a limb and got dressed. He’d packed a couple of changes of clothes which was a good thing because the jeans he’d been wearing the night before were covered in emissions that were not for for public consumption. 

He pulled on his boxers and the old grey jeans he’d bought to go fishing in, grabbing a black-shirt out the bag and shoving both arms in before sticking his head through. The sounds of Jim moving around the galley (not kitchen as he’d called it the night before only to be corrected) caught his attention and Ross’ stomach growled. They’d certainly worked up enough of a serious appetite the night before. 

He was pulling on a plaid shirt over his t-shirt when he came up from the cabin. Jim was at the cooker, making them breakfast and he was already dressed in faded jeans and a grey sweatshirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He gave Ross a quick smile and then poured him a cup of coffee, doctoring it with cream and sugar (he’d been observant) and handing it to Ross. 

‘I was going to let you sleep in a bit longer.’ he said and Ross shrugged and came to kiss him before moving to the booth and sitting down to drink his coffee. 

‘I usually get up early.’ He noted how he was feeling a lot more comfortable with the fact that he was on a boat. 

Jim hummed agreement and came over, putting a full plate down in front of him. Ross smiled in appreciation at the two eggs sunny side up, bacon, breakfast sausage and toast on the side. 

‘I think I want to keep you.’ he said, digging in, and Jim laughed. He bought his own plate over and they sat and ate in silence then washed up and started getting prepped for their day ahead. 

Ross helped as best he could, largely confounded by the equipment Jim was getting him to stack on the dock. He’d never been scuba diving and when he put two and two together and saw the cage that Jim had had bought over from the mainland, his blood ran cold. 

‘You aren’t serious.’ He was staring at him in disbelief. ‘You actually want to get into the water with that thing?’

‘Ross.’ Jim stopped what he was doing and gave him a look. ‘I’ve free dived with whites. Not just once, but dozens of times. I know what I’m doing.’

‘Yeah, but this thing eats people.’ Ross retorted. ‘I really feel like I need to point that out.’

‘And I really feel like you need to trust me.’ Jim replied evenly. ‘Look, I am probably not going to even use it. But I want there to be an option. Underwater observation might throw up something that tells us why this is happening. It might well be that this shark is injured and can’t catch anything else besides people.’ 

‘I don’t care.’ Ross could hear how his voice was rising. ‘I don’t want you in the water with that thing. I…’ he stopped, realising how he sounded. 

Jim sighed and came over to him. He raised a hand to Ross’ face and looked at him steadily. 

‘Then I will only do it if I am a hundred percent sure I won’t get hurt. How’s that sound, Chief?’ He smiled reassuringly at him. 

‘Okay.’ Ross blew out a breath. ‘I guess that’s all I can really ask.’

‘Here.’ Jim handed him his laptop case and Ross’ own duffle bag. ‘You can take these.’ He picked up the other duffle and his tanks and they disembarked and started walking down towards Silver’s boathouse. They got there and found Silver standing on the aft deck, yelling at Charlie and a couple of other fishermen that Ross had enlisted to help carry the shark cage over. Jim set his gear down and started the return trip to grab the past few things he needed and Ross went over to the Orca. 

‘Morning Chief.’ Silver sounded positively jovial as he directed the men carrying the cage. ‘You seen this? Kids these days, the shit they got. TV, satellite, electric toothbrushes…’ He chuckled. ‘Not sure what the hell this is supposed to be.’

‘Shark cage.’ Jim came up behind Ross carrying two aluminium cases. 

‘Shark cage?’ Silver stared at it, his black eyes twinkling. ‘Cage goes in the water? You go in the cage? Shark’s in the water? Our shark?’ 

Jim sighed and nodded. 

‘That’s right.’ he confirmed. 

Silver chuckled again and started a rather creaking rendition of Spanish ladies and Jim rolled his eyes at Ross. 

‘Great.’ he muttered. ‘He’s a comedian too.’ 

Ross huffed a laugh as he followed Jim onto the Orca. He followed Jim down into the much more cramped wheelhouse and helped him stow the bags in cabin. The interior of the boat was as dated as the exterior, plywood and plaid that kind of matched his shirt, something that made Jim grin. 

‘What’s in those?’ He nodded at the aluminium cases. 

‘Tagging gear and a few other things.’ Jim replied. ‘We can keep track of it that way if we need to.’

‘What kind of other things?’ Ross had picked up the tiny hint of something in Jim’s voice, his instincts telling him there was more there than Jim was showing him. 

Jim sighed. He picked up one of the cases and flipped the catches. Inside there was what looked like a high performance spear gun. In the foam insert there was a series of glass vials containing dark brown fluid.

‘It’s strychnine nitrate.’ he explained. ‘Massive doses of it. We use it to euthenise animals. Obviously the fact that this is a very large shark warrants a very large dose. The gun system is used to deliver it.’ 

‘But you didn’t want to kill it.’ Ross was confused. 

‘I don’t.’ Jim replied. ‘But if we do, I want to do it my way. This will be quick and it will be painless.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t want Silver to barrel it. That drowns them. It’s a horrible way to die.’ He closed the case.

‘When were you going to tell me about this?” Ross asked.

‘When you told me about the loaded .45 in your bag.’ Jim countered, a half smile on his face. 

‘Shit.’ Ross was taken aback. ‘How…?’

‘You left it open last night.’ Jim said. ‘After the condom run.’

‘Oh.’ Ross was sheepish. ‘Look, I just…’

‘It’s okay.’ Jim replied. ‘I get it. If it makes you feel more secure than you bring it. But I have to tell you, it probably wouldn’t do very much.’

‘Great.’ Ross muttered. ‘That makes me feel a whole lot better.’ 

They went back out to find Silver singing another ditty about bow legged women and exchanged looks. Jim went to retrieve his tanks and bag from the dock and stowed them in the locker on deck that Silver indicated and then set about tying off the shark cage to the side. Ross watched him with interest, the way Jim tied the knots so quickly and competently fascinating him. 

‘Ross!’ The call from the side made him look up and he saw Demelza standing there, waving at him. She had the cool bag with her. 

Ross climbed off the boat, still a bit unsteady, and she gave him a half hearted smile when he got to her. 

‘Liz and I figured that maybe you hadn’t had time to get supplies.’ she explained as she handed it to him. ‘So we made sure that you won’t go hungry.’ 

Ross put the bag down and hugged her tightly. She hugged back and he could feel she was shaking a bit. 

‘Liz wouldn’t come.’ She spoke into his shoulder. ‘She’s still a bit upset with you.’

‘If you call Charlie he’ll put a call through to us.’ They turned and saw Jim standing next to them. ‘And I promise to get him back to you in one piece.’ 

‘I’m holding you to that.’ Demelza replied. 

‘Chief! Hawkins!’ Silver’s bellow was only slightly quieter than a foghorn. ‘We need to get going or we’ll miss the tide.’ 

‘Take care.’ Demelza stepped back and they nodded and climbed back aboard. Silver gave Ross a wolfish smile and handed him a life preserver. 

‘Take us out, Hawkins.’ he instructed. ‘Seeing as you know how.’ 

Jim gave Ross a knowing glance and then went to climb the ladder to the top of the wheelhouse. The engines burst into life beneath them and Ross put his life preserver on, strapping it securely. Silver was already back in the wheelhouse, mapping out a course. Demelza stood and watched them leave, getting smaller and smaller as Jim guided them out the harbour and onto the open sea. 

Ross felt the boat bounce as they hit chop, the breeze whipping the ocean into small foam topped waves. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as they left land, the safety of the harbour falling behind them. He looked up at Jim, outlined against the morning sky, and felt a little better. He picked up the cool bag and went inside. Silver saw him and nodded below. 

‘Put that in the galley.’ he instructed. 

Ross did as he’d asked and when he came back out, Silver was standing back out on deck. 

‘Hawkins! Put her on a heading of thirty-five degrees Nor’east.’ he called. The boat turned and he grinned at Ross. ‘Looks like he was telling the truth.’ He pointed at the left of the boat. ‘Port. Starboard. Aloft. Below. Head’s down there. Shark’s out there.’ Each direction was punctuated with a pointed finger. 

‘Jim’s already told me this.’ Ross was defensive. 

Silver’s grin widened. 

‘I’ll bear that in mind.’ He chuckled. ‘We’ll wait till we get clear of the cape and then we’ll start the chum line.’

‘Chum line?’ Ross asked and got a sinister chuckle in reply. 

‘Yes, Chief.’ Silver nodded at a series of sealed white buckets at the back of the boat. ‘It’s how we’ll draw him in.’ He walked back to the wheelhouse, clapping Ross on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll soon be intimately acquainted.’ 

********

An hour later and Ross was starting to seriously regret his decision to come along. He was at the back of the boat, cigarette clamped between his teeth to stave off the smell. It turned out that chum was one of the rankest things he could have possibly imagined, a repulsive mixture of blood, fish guts and oil that he had been ladling out into the water for the past twenty minutes. 

Silver was in the fighting chair, a pack of oyster crackers in his pocket that he was snacking on while he fiddled with a spare reel. He already had a baited line in the water, the rod braced in its holder next to him. Jim was at the side. He was watching the water, sunglasses on and his whole attitude one of complete focus, his sweatshirt discarded and the faded red t-shirt he had on underneath revealed. He had a small hand held device, a fish finder he’d told Ross and he was staring at it intently and then back out again like something had got his attention. 

A yellow flag buoy bobbed off the stern, the line of red drifting away with the current. Ross watched it for a while, the sun on his back making him feel sleepy. He inhaled on his cigarette and blew out the smoke, noting how the wind had died down. He was down to his t-shirt now as well, shirt tied around his waist. 

‘Keep that chum line going, Chief.’ Silver instructed. ‘We’ve got five good miles.’

‘What about the boat?’ Ross asked, looking back up at Jim. 

‘We’re just riding the current right now.’ Silver inserted something into the reel. ‘It’ll take us out far enough to find him.’ He gave Jim a disparaging look. ‘You know when I was young we used to go out with just our charts and compass. Now all that fancy shit, it won’t hold with Mr Whitey. He was born in a world without electronics. All he’s made for is swimming and eating. Course he might eat all that stuff of yours, Hawkins. Seen one eat a rocking chair once…’ His words trailed off into a chuckle and Jim gave him what was no doubt a scathing look from behind his sunglasses. 

‘We have a better chance of finding her with this than following your cockeyed fishing instincts.’ he shot back and Silver barked a laugh. 

‘I’ll you something, lad.’ He nodded at the water. ‘If that damn fish wasn’t around we would have ourselves enough to full the icebox below by now. That big fish has scared everything else away. He’s here somewhere.’

Jim huffed and retreated aloft. Ross smiled to himself. The two of them had been baiting each other since they had started the trip. 

‘Chief, that one’s almost done.’ Silver said. ‘Get a fresh bucket, will you?’ 

Ross glared at him, but Silver was completely unmoved. He got up and stomped over to where the buckets were stowed and then frowned when he saw the tangled of ropes. He tried to work through the lines and then pulled on the one he thought was right. 

There was a loud clang as the cage came down, the tanks behind it rolling and banging into each other. In a second, Jim was next to him, having slid down the ladder at breakneck speed. 

‘Jesus Christ, Ross!’ His voice was sharp. ‘Watch it! This is Trimix, you screw around with it and we’re all going fucking kaboom!’ He got everything back up, retying the rope and Ross stepped back, feeling like an idiot for pulling the wrong knot.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said and Jim huffed as he undid the correct knot and shoved a bucket at him. 

‘Just be careful, okay.’ He stood up and went back up the ladder.

Silver watched the whole scene unfold with a wry smile on his face. 

‘Don’t take it so hard, Chief.’ His voice was low so only they could hear. ‘Next time you just ask me which knot to pull, all right?’ 

Ross sighed and went back to his post, lighting a fresh cigarette and starting the chum line again. Behind him Silver sat and ate another cracker. 

Then the reel clicked. It was slow, only a small movement but they both looked at each other and then at the reel. 

It clicked again. 

‘Chief.’ Silver said. ‘Get behind me.’

Ross got up, watching as Silver eased the chair straps over his shoulders and planted his rubber boots into the footplate. He took the rod from its cup and moved it to the notch in the seat between his legs, wedging it in firmly. 

‘Chief.’ He was all focus now. ‘Get the dipper and scoop up some water will you?’ 

Ross did as he asked but just as he was turning back, the reel went. It made a high pitched noise as whatever had taken the bait ran with it, unspooling so quickly it was impossible to even fathom how fast the fish must be going. 

‘Jesus.’ He stared at it. 

‘Wet the reel Chief!’ Silver shouted at him. ‘Hawkins! Reverse full, he’s taking too much line!’

The boat swung hard and Ross found himself stumbling over the deck. Silver swore loudly as the line immediately started moving in the opposite direction, the reel still screaming.

‘For Christ’s sake Chief!’ he bellowed. ’Wet the goddamned reel!’ 

Ross managed to make it to him in time, dumping the water over the line and the screaming stopped. Up above, Jim was looking around him as he steered. 

‘This isn’t a shark.’ he yelled down. ‘It’s too erratic. Sharks don’t move like this.’

‘It’s the shark.’ Silver grunted, straining as he hauled the rod upright. ‘But he’s a smart big fish. He thinks he’s going to play us.’ He started muttering, his voice pitching low and angry. ‘You think I’m going to let you go, but no sir. I’ve got you.’

‘It’s not the shark.’ Jim protested from on high and Silver growled.

‘Don’t you be telling me my business, Mr Hawkins!’ he shouted. ‘On this boat you’ll do as I say or you can take your gear and backstroke home! Now, hard to starboard if you please!’ He was still wrestling with the rod, and Ross heard Jim swearing in much the same vein as he turned the wheel and took the boat in the direction Silver had ordered.  
The line slackened off so suddenly that it took both him and Silver by surprise, and then Silver’s brows drew down as his face became thunderous. 

‘Bastard’s taking it under the boat.’ he muttered, reeling in the line as fast as he was able to. ‘He’s trying to fool us, you see. Where the hell is he going?’ He threw Ross a quick glance over his shoulder. ‘Chief, grab one of the gaffs from the wheelhouse. Let’s see if we can bring him up.’ 

Ross went inside, slipping on spilled water, and grabbed one of the dangerous looking implements from its place on the bulkhead, eyeing the wicked looking barbed hook on the end. 

‘I don’t think it’s going to be big enough.’ he warned and watched as Silver kept reeling in. 

‘We just need him to get alongside.’ He was clearly feeling the pull, his teeth clenched and the muscles in his forearms standing out. 

‘Jesus, just let it go!’ Jim was watching them from the top. ‘You’ll snap the line!’

Silver ignored him, still reeling in. Ross saw a glint and looked at him. 

‘The wire’s showing.’ He stared at it and then the next minute it snapped, flying back with enough force to hit him smack in the forehead. He raised one hand to his face, not quite believing what had just happened. The warm stickiness of his own blood met his fingers and Silver roared in anger. He threw off the harness and hurled the rod aside as he stormed to the wheelhouse. Jim was kneeling down, watching over the edge with a concerned look on his face. 

‘I told you it would snap.’ His voice was sharp and Silver waved a threatening finger at him. 

‘And I told you it was our goddamned shark!’ He disappeared inside and Jim snorted and came down the ladder. He walked to Ross and inspected the cut. 

‘You need to disinfect that.’ he said. Then he went inside the wheelhouse after Silver and Ross heard them yelling at each other, the air fairly turning blue as the insults came thick and fast. He walked to the rail and looked out over the water, but there was nothing to see, the surface giving nothing away. 

‘We do it my way!’ Silver sounded adamant. He was coming back out with a harpoon gun in his hands.

‘That is ridiculous!’ Jim looked like he was ready to spit as he followed close on Silver’s heels. ‘And unnecessarily cruel.’

Silver wheeled around getting right in his face. To Jim’s credit he didn’t back down an inch, glaring up at him with flashing eyes. 

‘You have no idea what we’re dealing with.’ Silver hissed. 

‘Neither do you!’ Jim shot back and they stood glaring at each other. 

‘Can I just point out that you two pissing on the deck is doing fuck all.’ Ross had had enough. ‘If it was big enough to snap that line like that, we probably need to be better equipped for this.’

‘We don’t have time for that, Chief.’ Silver took a step back, still looking at Jim like he hoped he’d spontaneously fly overboard and Jim was giving it right back. ‘Get back up there, Hawkins. This is nowhere near done.’ 

Jim shook his head at him, but went. Ross could hear him muttering as he climbed back up and the word asshole reached his ears and he hid a smile. 

‘Chief.’ Silver nodded at his head. ‘You’re still bleeding. First aid kit’s under the sink in the galley.’

‘Fuck.’ Ross sighed and went to go fix himself up.


	9. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now what?

Another hour passed, but with no sign of the shark at all. Jim stayed aloft, now braces against the side with a battered copy of Moby Dick in his hands, and Silver had gone up the mast and was balanced in the crow’s nest watching the sea below. 

Ross at on the deck at the stern, a piece of rope in his hands repeating the mantra that Silver was intoning from above. 

‘Little brown eels comes out of the cave, goes around the rock and back into the cave…’ He pulled the rope taught and it tied itself in a single knot instead of the bowline he was trying to perfect. Jim had shown him earlier and Silver had deemed it an acceptable way to pass the time. He was now chuckling at Ross’ botched attempt.

‘Not much good is it, Chief?’ he said and Ross huffed in frustration. 

‘Fuck.’ He undid the knot and tried again, squinting against the sun as he looked up. ‘How much longer?’ 

‘Keep it going, Chief.’ Silver’s reply drifted down. ‘We got a way to go yet.’

Ross snorted. He was hot and bored and starting to think that they were on a hiding to nothing. About ten minutes passed and the boat seemed to shift slightly as the breeze changed direction.

‘Chief.’ Silver called. ‘Get back on that chum line, would you?’

‘Why can’t Jim have a turn?’ Ross grumbled and Silver laughed. 

‘Hawkins drives the boat, Chief.’ he replied. ‘Now hop to it.’ He addressed Jim as he went past him. ‘Hawkins, put the damn book down and slow ahead please.’

Ross glared at him and muttered to himself as Silver came down from the mast, before going inside the wheelhouse. He went to get another bucket, grimacing at the smell from the chum that had now matured nicely in the summer heat and flung another ladleful into the water. 

‘You heard him.’ Ross directed the words at Jim. ‘Slow ahead.’ 

Jim gave him a wry grin and turned back to the wheel, the boat starting to pull away from the line of red. 

‘Slow ahead.’ Ross snorted. He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it before going back to the chum. ‘I can go slow ahead. Why don’t you come and chum some of this shit.’

He flung the chunks of fish and blood away from him, turning back at the last minute just in time to see a nightmare emerge from the water. His first impression was of a massive maw, lines with row upon row of razor sharp teeth.

The sheer size of it overwhelmed him and Ross stumbled to his feet, his face a picture of shock. He stood rooted to the spot as the shark turned in the water, giving him a perfect view of its profile. The black eye seemed to be looking right at him and he could even see the collection of tiny dots all over its snout. It sank back down beneath the water as silently as it had risen, leaving not even a ripple to show it had been there at all. 

Ross walked himself backwards into the wheelhouse, not taking his eyes from the water. He almost tripped over the edge and when he got inside he still didn’t trust himself to look away. Silver was at the chart table and he looked up at Ross, his face questioning. 

‘You’re going to need a bigger boat.’ It was the only thing Ross could think of to say. 

Silver got to his feet, pushing past him and out into the sunshine. Ross could only watch as he moved to the rail. 

‘Shut off that engine.’ he ordered. 

Above him, he could hear Ross had gotten up and a few seconds later, he was down on the deck as well. He went out to join them and then saw what it was that had them both rapt, standing at the rail and staring at the giant dorsal fin that sliced through the waves. 

Ross was appalled. He could see that the fin itself was at least a couple of feet tall. The sleek grey back was contrasted with a white belly and the two massive pectoral fins that steered it were spread out like the wings of a plane. It was propelled by a powerful crescent shaped tail that swept from side to side. 

Next to him, Jim looked like all his Christmases had come at once. He looked at Ross once, his eyes shining and then bolted for the ladder, getting up halfway to get a better look.   
‘Holy shit.’ His voice was reverent. ‘She’s at least twenty feet.’ 

‘Twenty five.’ Silver corrected. ‘Three tons on him.’

Jim was back down the ladder in an instant and he disappeared inside the wheelhouse Silver moved along the side of the boat with the shark, then moved to stare over the side.   
‘You’re going to need a bigger boat, right?’ Ross asked and he grinned.

‘We got to get to work.’ he declared and moved, getting briefly tangled up with Jim in the hatch as he went inside and Jim came out, camera in hand. 

‘Seriously.’ Ross was starting to feel like the only sane man in the vicinity. ‘How the fuck do we handle this?’

‘Come on, I need you.’ Jim was up and moving to the bow. ‘Ross! Come on!’ 

Ross huffed and followed up along to the bow. Jim was braced at the edge of the wheelhouse, and he waved his hand at Ross. 

‘Get out there.’ he directed. ‘Move!’

‘What?’ Ross was confused. ‘Where?’

‘Beyond the barrels.’ Jim was bubbling up with enthusiasm. ‘Out at the end.’

‘What, are you fucking crazy?’ Ross protested. 

‘Please, Ross.’ Jim was insistent. ‘Just go to the end of the pulpit.’

‘No.’ Ross clung to the side. 

‘Please, just go to the end of the pulpit.’ Jim pleaded. 

‘Why?’ Ross couldn’t see the point. All he could see was that the huge fish was coming back around. 

‘I need something in the foreground for scale.’ Jim was busy taking pictures, looking like a slightly manic paparazzo. 

‘Scale, my ass!’ Ross retreated to safety. ‘Fuck that!’ 

‘Oh come on.’ Jim was completely enthralled. ‘Come here, darling.’ He moved with the shark. ‘Come here. Fucking beautiful…’

‘Jesus Christ!’ Ross moved back to the aft deck, seeing that Silver now had the harpoon gun. He barely got out of the way in time before he was up on the rail and moving to the bow. 

‘Hawkins!’ he bellowed. ‘You need to tie on a barrel.’

‘Hang on!’ Jim was coming around the other side. He barrelled into the wheelhouse and Ross moved to the door to see him digging in one of the aluminium cases, coming out with something that looked like a small radio and his own spear gun. 

‘What’s that?’ He didn’t get an answer as Jim raced past him and to the bow where Silver was now at the end of the pulpit. 

‘Hawkins.’ He glanced back at him, the harpoon gun held at the ready. ‘Hurry up now.’

‘Don’t wait for me.’ Jim was kneeling by the first barrel. He was busy taping the transmitter onto the steel spear before he turned his attention to tying on the barrel.

‘Hawkins…’ Silver warned. ‘Come on now.’

‘Don’t wait for me!’ Jim wasn’t even looking at him. 

‘Shit.’ Silver aimed and fired just as Jim threw both hands up, the barrel whipping away as the bolt flew through the air and bounced off the shark’s back, just shy of the dorsal fin. and it immediately submerged in a swirl of foam. Jim was up and moving even as Silver cursed and just as the shark came up on the other side, he took his own shot. This time it hit true and the tag lodged firmly in the thick skin, just behind the dorsal fin.

‘Fucking hell.’ Ross was staring, then looked at Jim accusingly. ‘I thought you weren’t going to help?’

‘Have you seen the size of her?’ Jim was almost bouncing. ‘One barrel wouldn’t do much to slow her down. Besides, he can’t shoot for shit.’ This got a furious glare from Silver as he came back onto the deck. 

‘And I suppose that dinky little tag you stabbed her with is going to be so much help.’ he snarled and Jim smiled looking very pleased with himself. 

‘Yeah, it will.’ He moved back into the wheelhouse and they followed him. He already had his laptop set up and now Ross could see data filling up columns even as they watched. ‘See that. We’ve got her speed, her direction, her depth. Pretty much everything we’ll need to keep track of her.’ 

Silver made a disgusted noise and stomped back out. Jim gave Ross a grin and then pointed at the screen. 

‘She’s staying close to the surface and swimming around us.’ He looked up and out the porthole. ‘That’s odd. Usually they fuck off after they get tagged.’ 

‘Hawkins!’ Silver’s shout startled them both. ‘You better get out here.’

They looked at each other and went back out. Silver was at the stern and he pointed. 

‘Now don’t you tell me that is normal.’ He nodded at the water. 

Jim and Ross moved to the rail and Ross felt a chill go down his spine as the sharp came back up a few feet from the boat. Its massive head came out, the conical snout and the mouth with its formidable armoury of teeth gaped a few times, terrifying him and making him feel awestruck at the same time. 

‘She’s spy hopping.’ Jim explained. ‘Checking us out.’ He sounded troubled though and Ross wondered just what he was thinking. 

‘Yeah, but it’s like she’s hunting us.’ Silver replied. ‘Circling like that.’ Ross noted that he’d changed his assumption of the shark’s gender and then remembered how Jim had explained how to tell. ‘Rolling over.’

‘Well, she’s sticking around.’ Jim pointed out. 

‘Get me another shot at her.’ Silver was moving. ‘Come on.’ He was up and heading to the bow and Jim followed him. Ross stayed on the stern, watching how the shark had gone back to circling them. 

‘You’re not going to catch her by barrelling her.’ he heard Jim saying. 

‘Like hell I’m not.’ Silver retorted and Ross could hear the animosity building again. 

‘She’s not going anywhere.’ Jim pointed out. ‘Let me just have a good look at her for a bit and then you can try.’ 

‘No.’ Silver was adamant. ‘Now we do it my way.’

‘Jesus.’ Jim huffed. ‘Fine.’ He had his arms folded. ‘Then you do it by yourself. I’m not fucking helping you.’

‘Just get back up there and steer.’ Silver barked and moved down to the end of the pulpit again. 

Jim came back around and climbed up the ladder before he bought the Orca around. The shark was now swimming away from them, her fin still showing above the surface. Jim gunned the engines and they took off after her, the shark easily outpacing Silver’s boat. 

Silver was braced on the pulpit, harpoon gun raised as he tracked the shark through the water. Ross came round to the bow, watching as he turned back to look up at Jim. 

‘Get us alongside her!’ he yelled and Jim huffed. 

‘I can’t push this rustbucket you call a boat any harder!’ he yelled back. ‘She’s already at maximum revs and she doesn’t sound too good.’

‘Goddamn you!’ Silver roared. ‘Just do it!’ 

‘Fine, but when your engine blows and we’re dead in the water, you’re getting eaten first.’ Jim muttered and Ross felt the boat shudder beneath him as he pushed it to its maximum speed. 

‘That’s it.’ Silver crooned. ‘Come here, you big bastard.’ He closed one eye as he aimed and then fired the gun and the bolt flew through the air, trailing the cable behind it. It thwacked into the shark’s hide, and this time it stuck. The barrel was yanked from its housing and flew through the air, smacking and bouncing along the surface of the water before the shark went under again and it vanished from sight. 

‘We got her!’ Silver was jubilant. ‘She won’t get away from us now.’ 

‘So what now?’ Ross asked. 

‘Now we chase her around, Chief. Maybe try and get another barrel in her. She’ll get tired eventually and float back up. Then we can go in and gaff her and hauled her alongside long enough to make sure she won’t be dining on any of Amity’s good citizens again.’ Silver chuckled. 

‘It’s barbaric.’ Jim’s voice was acerbic. ‘But then you can’t win in a fair fight.’

‘Ain’t nothing fair about this, Mr Hawkins.’ Silver declared. ‘The mayor and the people of Amity have engaged me to hunt down and kill this damn shark.’ He glared up at Jim. ‘And I’ll use whatever I damn well please to do it. Remember that you are just along for the ride courtesy of your boyfriend here.’ He nodded at Ross, whose eyebrows were now trying to escape into his hairline. He watched Silver go back around and disappear inside and then followed, climbing the ladder to get to Jim and getting a grin in response. 

‘Homophobic slight aside, I quite like the sound of that.’ he chuckled and Ross snorted. 

‘He’s an asshole.’ he replied. ‘He only said it to piss us off.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim now sounded mischievous. ‘Maybe we should tell him how you spent all night fucking my ass. See what he says then.’ He leaned on the wheel. ‘You know we’re going nowhere, right? Silver’s just obsessed enough to keep us out here all night. You might want to put a call through and tell the girls.’

‘Yeah.’ Ross was now annoyed. ‘Although I am not happy to spend the night out here, I have to tell you.’ 

‘I don’t know.’ Jim was snorting with laughter. ‘Chasing a shark with a possibly certifiable maniac with a vendetta. I can think of worse ways to spend my evening.’ His light eyes were sparkling when he looked at Ross. ‘Then again, I can also think of better ways to spend it too.’ 

His direct stare made butterflies start up in Ross’ stomach. Things had gotten a little out of hand the night before, and a particularly vivid image popped into his head of Jim on top of him, skin sheened with sweat and his damp curls hanging in his eyes, riding Ross’ cock until they were both screaming. It had been intense beyond anything he’d ever had before and he wondered if it was possible to fall in love in just two days. 

‘Stop it.’ Jim was smiling properly, his dimples deep. ‘I can see your brain going into overdrive Chief, and there’s nowhere on this tub that we could possibly do what you’re thinking about.’

‘I’m not thinking about anything.’ Ross protested, but the damage was done and his face was heating up in a way that had nothing to do with the sun.

‘Sure, you’re not.’ Jim laughed and went back to steering the boat.

**********

The afternoon came and went and so did the shark. Sometimes she came to the surface and circled, the barrel charting her progress. She never came close enough for Silver to get his second shot though and he got more and more irate as the day wore on, until the sun started to sink and the sky darkened. By the time they retired for the night, he was grumbling. 

They had eaten the food that Demelza and Liz had supplied them with and then Jim had decided that if he couldn’t beat Silver, he would join him and they were now at the table in the wheelhouse, drinking apricot brandy from enamel mugs and sharing stories about sharks. They were both a little drunk, but strangely enough the alcohol had lessened the animosity between them and they were now chatting in a very convivial fashion. They had gotten to the point where they were now laughing and the level of the brandy was rapidly falling down the bottle. Ross shook his head at them and Silver caught his look and chuckled, nodding at Ross’ forehead and the plaster he’d stuck over the cut he’d received from the flying wire.

‘I wouldn’t worry about it, Chief. It’s not permanent, Chief.’ He topped up their cups. ‘It’ll heal up nicely and you’ll have a grand souvenir to show your kids.’ 

‘Yeah, well I could have done without it.’ Ross muttered and sipped from his own mug, wincing as the brandy burnt his throat. He’d long since stopped trying to keep up with them. 

‘You want to see something permanent?’ Silver reached up and into his mouth, coming out with a partial denture that had one tooth attached to it, revealing a gap where his front left incisor should have been. ‘See this? St Paddy’s day parade, Boston 1987. Got hit with a bottle by some drunken bastard in a bar down the rough end of the docks.’ He barked a laugh as Jim leaned in for a closer look. 

‘Damn.’ He had his nose all scrunched up and Ross was fairly convinced that he would be happy to marry the crinkle alone. 

‘You want to see permanent.’ Silver was now on a roll. ‘Just put your hand under my cap there, Hawkins.’ Jim obliged, feeling over where Silver’s black hair turned grey at his hairline. ‘You feel that little dent there. Got that from my crazy third wife. Clocked me with a frying pan, rest her soul.’

‘Okay, I got that beat.’ Jim leaned back and reached for the sleeve of his Henley, pulling it up and revealing a crescent shaped scar that stood out white against the tanned skin. ‘Moray eel. Bit right through my wetsuit.’

‘Ah now see.’ Silver was rolling up his own sleeve. The scar on his arm was similar in shape, but the tooth indentations were deeper. ‘Mako. Good thing it was a juvenile or I would have lost a hand to go along with my leg.’ 

‘Mako?’ Ross frowned. 

‘It’s a shark, Ross.’ Jim was now laughing. He got one leg up and on the table, dragging up his jeans. There was a patch of uneven textured skin on his calf. 

‘Bull shark in The Caribbean. Scraped the shit out of me while I was taking samples.’ 

Silver chuckled and got his own leg in the table. 

‘You probably already know about this one.’ His black eyes were twinkling. ‘I think that trumps yours Mr Hawkins.’

‘Yeah.’ Jim was grinning. ‘I think it does.’ Their eyes met and they both roared with laughter. On his side of the boat, Ross pulled up his own shirt, the white pockmark not something he liked to brag about. He shoved his shirt back down and kept quiet. 

Jim and Silver were still grinning at each other. Silver reached for his mug. 

‘You want a drink?’ he asked Jim. ‘Drink to your leg?’

‘I’ll drink to your leg.’ Jim replied, grabbing his own cup. 

‘Al right, then we’ll drink to our legs.’ Silver chuckled and they clinked the mugs together and then drained them. Their laughter was infectious and Ross couldn’t help joining in as they chortled away, now just the right side of drunk. Then he nodded at Silver’s other arm where there was another scar that he hadn’t mentioned. 

‘What’s that one?’ he asked and Silver frowned. 

‘What?’ he asked, his words a little slurred.

‘That one there on your arm.’ Ross replied. 

‘Oh.’ Silver shrugged. ‘That one was a tattoo. I got that removed.’

‘Let me guess.’ Jim was snickering. ‘Mother.’ He burst out laughing again at his own joke and Silver smiled at him, but now it was tinged with something else.

‘Now, Hawkins that one was for my Pa.’ he said. ‘It was the USS Indianapolis.’

That stopped Jim right in his tracks, his face becoming serious as he stared at him. 

‘Jesus.’ He frowned. ‘Your father was on the Indianapolis?’

‘What’s the Indianapolis?’ Ross asked and Jim looked at him, aghast. 

‘It’s a ship.’ He sounded appalled that Ross had no idea what he was referring to. ‘A warship from the Second World War.’

‘He was a gunner.’ Silver explained. ‘He said she was a good ride, smooth, and the food was the best in the whole damn Navy.’ He looked up at Ross. ‘She got sent out on a mission, a secret mission to deliver the Hiroshima bomb. On their way back, a Japanese sub caught them and slammed two torpedoes into their side. My Pa was asleep when they hit. He said that it threw him clear across the hold. By the time he got out on deck, she was already sinking.’ He sighed heavily. ‘He went into the water with eleven hundred other men, most of them in next to nothing and half of them without life jackets. They paddled around while she went down, got themselves into these little knots and tried to stay together. A whole bunch of them drowned outright. The rest of them waited for rescue but what they didn’t know was that there had been no distress call and the damn navy didn’t list them as missing for three days after they were due to get back into port.’ He took a long drink. ‘He told me that the first shark showed up about an hour later, just circling and sniffing around. It was a whitetip, most of them were. See, they’re like the wolves of the sea. They just swim around waiting for anything to get within biting reach. There ain’t much out there to eat and they just hone in on what they can find. They didn’t take a bite till much later, till they realised that they could.’

‘Jesus.’ Jim breathed the word. Silver huffed and continued his story. 

‘He said that first dawn was terrible. You could hear the men screaming when they got hit. True, most of them drowned or died of hypothermia or dehydration, but the ones the sharks took were the ones that really stuck with him. He saw men bitten in half, bleeding to death where they’d lost a limb. He swore he’d never put on a life jacket again and he never did until the day I out him in the ground. But he hunted those bastards. Hunted every one he could.’ He sat back and lowered his leg. 

‘Yeah.’ Jim did the same. ‘Well, if it’s any consolation they came off worse.’ He sounded sad. ‘In the sixties the Taylors filmed whitetips around a whale carcass off the Australian coast. There was close on a hundred thousand of them. Now it’s estimated that they’re down to just three thousand worldwide, and that’s all down to us. They’ve killed us, but we’ve waged genocide on them. If we keep going, they’re going to be extinct by the end of the next decade.’ He put his mug down and looked at Silver. 

‘You want to leave her alive, don’t you?’ There was no mockery in Silver’s voice. 

‘She must be close on eighty years old.’ Jim replied. ‘She was probably around before all that shit happened. She doesn’t know any better and I don’t feel like we have any right to take her out of the ocean because it’s convenient to us.’

‘So what?’ Silver asked. ‘We let her keep killing people?’

‘No.’ Jim sighed heavily. ‘That’s not an answer either.’ He looked at Silver. ‘I need time to try and figure this out.’ 

‘Well, you got tomorrow.’ Silver said. ‘I will give you till then. But after that she’s mine.’ 

They sat in silence and then an eerie sound drifted in through the portholes and Ross’ head came up immediately. 

‘What the hell is that?’ he asked. 

‘Whale.’ Jim replied. ‘Humpback, I think.’

Silver chuckled and then started singing in his creaky voice. 

‘Show me the way to go home. I’m tired and I want to go to bed.’ His eyes crinkled up with merriment once more and Jim smiled and joined in and that made Ross grin. He watched them, feeling for a moment like this was any other fishing trip and not the crusade they had embarked on. The song got louder and more ribald, both of them hammering their now empty mugs on the table. It was loud enough to drown out the sound of the laptop but Ross looked over at it, frowning at the blinking light on Jim’s screen. 

That was when they heard it. 

The singing died away and they all sat and looked at each other as the sound of something moving under the hull reached their ears and the entire boat groaned and lurched. Jim and Silver looked at each other. 

‘Do you think…?’ Jim didn’t finish. Silver’s eyes went hard. 

‘Son of a bitch. Hawkins, start the engines.’ He was just getting to his feet when the first hit came and it was enough to jolt the entire boat and make him fall back down. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim was now up as well and then they heard it again, a dull thud like something very large and very heavy was ramming itself into the side of the boat. Ross threw out a hand to steady himself and they all moved to peer into the lower part of the cabin. There was water coming from somewhere and Ross stared at it in horror. The hits kept coming, knocking cabinets open so that plates and cups fell out and gear came loose from where it had been stowed. 

‘Christ, she’s coming through the hull.’ Silver growled. Jim moved past him to the wheel, firing up the engines. Then the lights went out and they all froze. 

‘Everyone out on deck.’ Silver ordered, moving to grab his rifle, and old Browning, from next to the wheel. He threw the door open and bolted out and Ross and Jim found themselves left behind. 

‘She ate the light.’ Jim said. 

‘Great.’ Ross replied, sarcasm making him short. He was in the way and he and Jim danced around each other for a second before they both made it out the door. 

Silver was at the rail and now Ross could see it. The barrel was just coming past the port side and Silver fired round after round into the water. 

‘Christ.’ Jim was next to him. ‘Silver, come on. That is going to do exactly dick.’

‘Bitch thinks she can take a bite out of my boat.’ Silver was furious. He kept firing until he ran out of ammunition and then pulled the clip out and replaced it. ‘Get back up there. Nobody sleeps. Nobody!’ 

Jim huffed and shook his head in disgust but he went back up the ladder. He turned the Orca in the same direction the barrel was travelling, but now Ross could hear that the engines sounded wrong. Fear was starting to trail icy fingers up and down his spine. 

‘We need to call this in.’ he said to Silver. ‘Get hold of the coastguard and tell them what’s happened.’ 

‘No!’ Silver barked. ‘We see this through.’ He looked up to Jim. ‘Keep on her heading, Hawkins!’ 

Ross decided he’d be better off aloft and climbed up the ladder. Jim gave him a half-hearted smile. 

‘Guess we’re pulling another all-nighter.’ he sighed and then nodded at the deck. ‘You may as well try and get some rest.’

‘The engines sound wrong.’ Ross said. 

‘Sounds like she might have bent the housing.’ Jim explained. ‘I can feel the Orca pulling.’

They both looked down to where Silver was back on the pulpit, firing his new clip at the barrel in front of them. 

‘Looks like it’s going to be a long night.’ Ross muttered. 

‘Yeah.’ Jim sounded troubled. ‘It really fucking does.’


	10. Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

No-one got any sleep.

The engines gave out a little before dawn and Jim and silver were now under the deck in the engine hold trying to fix the problem. Tools were scattered around and all Ross could see of them were the tops of their heads, Silver’s baseball cap and Jim’s curls now pulled back into a messy knot. They were bickering again, accusations and recriminations traded back and forth as they worked. 

‘Goddamn shark.’ Silver growled. ‘The whole rudder shaft is bent.’

‘There’s salt water in the mix too.’ Jim replied. ‘This whole thing is a fucking mess.’

‘Chief!’ Silver called. ‘Try it now!’

Ross turned the wheel and got resistance. 

‘Still nothing!’ he shouted back. ‘It’ll only move around three inches!’

‘Crap.’ Silver muttered. ‘Hawkins?’

‘Not much better in this side.’ Jim replied. He glanced up and Ross saw the look of resignation on his face. He turned back to the wheel, but then a noise caught his attention and he looked back and focused out on the water just as the barrel burst to the surface. 

It took Ross a moment to register, and then he leaned over the side and shouted at them both.

‘It’s up!’ he waved his hand frantically at the bow of the boat. ‘The barrel’s up!’

‘Shit!’ Jim hauled himself out of the hold and went to give Silver a hand up. They moved to the stern, watching the barrel with suspicion. It bobbed on the waves, but other than that there was no sign of life. 

‘She’s tired out.’ Silver picked up the gaff and dipped it over the side. He hooked the coil of rope that was drifting past the stern and caught it. Next to him, Jim was peering into the water. 

‘Silver.’ He reached out and put his hand on the man’s arm. ‘I don’t like this.’ 

‘You worry too much, lad.’ Silver had the rope in his hands now, reeling it in a foot at a time. It was coming too easily and Ross could tell from the set of Jim’s shoulders that he was worried. Still he stood there and picked up the slack, winding it in his hands. 

There was now warning at all. 

The shark came out of the water right next to the boat, her jaws snapping and barely missing both Silver and Jim as they yelled and fell over backwards in fright. She was right out the water, her massive bulk coming down on the rail of the Orca and it sunk right down, water pouring over the transom as she thrashed around before sliding back down under the water. Ross barely managed to stop himself from tumbling over onto the bow, and he clung onto the wheel for dear life.

‘Shit!’ Silver was trying to get to his feet. Jim was up and he grabbed him under the arms and hauled him up. ‘Chief, help us get the goddamn pump!’ 

‘Fuck!’ Ross moved to climb down the ladder, but a massive blow from underneath made the boat lurch and he fell, only just grabbing hold of the ladder and staying on the wheelhouse. Down below, Jim and Silver where on their backs again, scrambling to get up. 

‘Jesus!’ Jim sounded shell shocked. ‘What the fuck is she doing?’ He slid over to the ladder and helped Ross down. ‘You okay?’

‘Yeah.’ Ross realised that Jim was wet through and looked down to the three inches of water lapping at his feet. ‘Are you?’

‘Yeah.’ Jim looked back at Silver. ‘Fuck.’

‘Fuck is right.’ Silver looked every bit as shocked as Jim did. They looked at each other and Ross knew they were thinking the same thing. 

‘Honestly.’ He said it to both of them. ‘Have you ever had one do this before?’

‘No.’ Jim shook his head, raking his wet curls out of his eyes. 

‘No.’ Silver said. He looked at Jim. ‘Looks like you’re out of time here.’

‘I realise that.’ Jim replied. ‘Okay. You do what you need to do. This is so far out of left field, I have no idea what she’s doing.’

‘You might want to check on her.’ Silver nodded at the wheelhouse. He was moving to the bow. ‘I’m going to rig up some barrels.’

Ross went after Jim, sloshing through the water into the wheelhouse. He could feel how the boat was now listing. 

‘It’s fried.’ Jim had the laptop in his hands. ‘Fell in the water.’ He looked at Ross and huffed. ‘So much for high tech.’ he dumped the computer and went back out. 

‘Hawkins!’ Silver called him from the bow and they skirted the wheelhouse and came around to find him loading another bolt. ‘Get the line tied on. We want to be ready for when she comes back.’

Jim nodded and moved to attach the cable to the barrel out front. 

‘Will she come back?’ Ross asked, his heart starting to thump out of time. 

‘She will.’ Silver was grave. ‘That bitch ain’t done with us. But we’ll be waiting for her and we’ll shoot so many barrels into her, she won’t be able to go back under.’

‘You hope.’ Jim said, standing up. ‘What if she tries to take out the boat again?’

‘Then we fight back.’ Silver barked. ‘We ain’t going down without a fight.’

‘Jesus.’ Ross suddenly realised the gravity of the situation. ‘Are you two serious? We could fucking die out here?’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re sinking Chief.’ Silver sounded eerily calm. He looked at Jim. ‘Ask Mr Hawkins, if you don’t believe me.’ 

‘So we radio in!’ Ross shouted. ‘Get the goddamn coastguard out here!’

‘We can’t.’ Jim said, also far more detached than Ross thought he had any right to be. ‘The radio got knocked out last night. The wires got fried along with the engine.’ He looked sheepish. ‘We didn’t want to alarm you so we didn’t say anything.’

‘Jesus fucking Christ!’ Ross was now starting to panic. ‘Why the fuck didn’t we go back in then?’ He looked from one to the other. ‘We fucking should have gone in!’

‘We couldn’t Chief.’ Silver sounded like he’d aged fifty years. ‘The engines were all crapped out.’

Ross was aghast. He looked over the rail to where they could just see Amity in the distance. 

‘How far out are we?’ he asked. 

‘About five miles.’ Jim replied, hands on his hips. ‘But with her in the water, we wouldn’t make fifty feet.’ 

‘Fuck!’ Ross yelled, helplessness taking over and anger welling up inside him. He stormed across the deck and back into the wheelhouse. He grabbed his duffle and unzipped it, taking out his holstered weapon and undoing his belt to strap it on. Jim came to the doorway and watched it. Ross looked at him and their eyes met, but Jim said nothing. 

‘Hawkins!’ Silver bellowed. ‘She’s back up!’

They ran out and saw the shark off the stern, her dorsal up above the surface and the barrel trailing after her. She swan past almost lazily and Silver lifted his harpoon gun and fired. The bolt hit her back and stuck and the barrel whipped off the bow and bounced past him into the water. 

‘That’s two.’ he declared. The shark sped up and then submerged and the barrels disappeared under the water. ‘I think we need an alternative though.’ He walked past Jim and patted him on the shoulder, then went inside. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim exhaled deeply. ‘He’s right.’ He started scouting around and Ross knew he was thinking. 

Silver came back with two life jackets, handing one to Ross and then to Jim. Jim didn’t take his. Instead he nodded at the cage. 

‘What do you think?’ he asked and Silver frowned. 

‘Last resort.’ he replied. ‘We get another barrel in first, the see if that slows her down.’

Jim nodded and then went back to the bow. Ross stood and chewed on his lip for a moment, his mind racing and coming up with nothing. He heard the sound of the barrels coming up and moved to climb round to the bow. Silver was back on the pulpit, now tilting back as the boat started to sink a little at the stern. He was braced, gun in hand as Jim tied on a third barrel. 

The shark came up, spy hopping like she had the first day. Ross couldn’t stop staring at her, the way she seemed to be eyeballing them all from out there in the water. 

‘Thing about a shark.’ Silver sounded almost conversational. ‘They got lifeless eyes, black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes.’ He grunted in annoyance as she slid back under the water and then tracked her along the barrel, waiting until she was close enough to fire. He pulled the trigger and the bolt whistled as it flew through the air. This one hit the shark in the flank and the whole line shuddered. 

‘Is it hurting her?’ Ross looked at Jim. 

‘No.’ Jim was watching the shark as she swam around the other side of the boat, now trailing three barrels before disappearing under the water again. ‘Their nervous systems don’t register pain the same way a mammal’s does.’ He gave Ross a wry smile. ‘It’s probably really pissing her off though.’

**********

The next hour passed with excruciating slowness. 

The bilge pump was still going, and the deck was mostly dry. The leaks in the hull were still letting the water in, in spite of their best attempts to plug them. 

Jim was now on deck, dried out by the midday sun. His curls had a textured flyway quality from the salt water and even though they were in dire straits, Ross found himself wanting to go over and run his fingers through them. He had put a hold on his panic. Banishing it to the same compartment in his mind that he had always put the stress of his job and was thinking clearly again. 

Silver was still on the pulpit, watching all the time. The shark hadn’t come close enough for another shot. She had been circling though, popping up every now and then to watch them and it creeped Ross out. 

‘Why does she do that?’ he asked and Jim looked up at him. He had his glasses on and pushed them up his nose in a gesture that Ross had now realised was a nervous tic. 

‘Great whites prey on large sea mammals.’ He went back to fiddling with his harpoon bolts. ‘They come out the water to see where the animals are.’

‘Shit.’ Ross stared as the fin glided past his line of vision. ‘Are they that smart?’

‘Nobody knows how smart they are.’ Jim clicked the bolt into place. ‘We know far less than we should.’

‘Do you have any idea why she’s doing this?’ Ross came to sit down next to him. 

‘None.’ Jim sighed and hung his head and Ross could see how tired he looked. ‘I’ve been racking my brain but nada.’ He gave Ross a sidelong glance. ‘I’m so fucking sorry.’

‘Why?’ Ross shrugged. ‘I decided to come with. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to be out here by yourself.’ He huffed. ‘In case you missed it, I think I might be a little attached to your dumb shark-crazy ass.’

‘Yeah?’ Jim was now looking at him intently. ‘How attached?’

Ross gazed back at him and then leaned in and kissed him. He was so far past caring, so far not giving a fuck and he knew Jim was too when he caught Ross by the shirt and kissed him back with a ferocity that made his pulse race. 

The sound of Silver chuckling behind them made them break apart from each other. 

‘Seems like I was right about the boyfriend part.’ He climbed back down onto the deck. ‘For what it’s worth, I don’t give a fuck what you to get up to behind closed doors. What I am concerned about is that we got three barrels in that damn fish and nothing seems to be slowing her down.’

‘I told you so.’ Jim leaned back on his hands. ‘Time for the last resort?’

‘We need to get in her in close.’ Silver pointed out. ‘Right now she’s playing us.’

It took a moment for Ross to comprehend what he was getting at and then the anger bubbled over and he was on his feet in a flash. 

‘No!’ He was almost vibrating he was so emotional. ‘Not a fucking chance!’

‘It’s the only way.’ Silver wasn’t even looking at him. Instead his eyes were trained on Jim. ‘You know that, Hawkins.’ 

‘Jim.’ Ross turned to look at him in astonishment. ‘You can’t go along with this. It’ll be fucking suicide.’

‘It might work, though.’ Jim looked at Silver. ‘If she gets in close enough, I can use this.’ He nodded at the spear gun. ‘I would prefer that. The barrels will keep her up long enough for you to haul her in.’ 

‘Jim, no!’ Ross had to grit his teeth to keep from yelling. ‘I’m not going to let you do this!’

‘You got any better suggestions?’ Jim was now on his feet, light eyes blazing. ‘Because right now, we’re sitting ducks waiting to go into the water.’

‘Shit.’ Ross hung his head. ‘No, I don’t.’

‘Okay then.’ Jim stepped into his space so they were toe to toe. ‘I’ll be okay.’

‘You said only if you could guarantee you wouldn’t get hurt.’ Ross reminded him. 

‘I’ll try not to then.’ Jim replied. He looked at Silver. ‘Let’s do it.’

They put the cage together, all three of them fixing the bolts that would hold it in place. Ross looked across at Jim, the way his face was set in an expression of determination and felt his own heart ache. The cage had seemed so sturdy before but now it felt like it never stand up to the assault that had splintered the Orca’s hull. 

‘You best get suited up.’ Silver said and Jim stepped back and went into the wheelhouse. ‘Come on, Chief. We need to get this hauled up.’

They got to work roping the cage to the pulley on the mast and lifted it up enough to get it over the side and into the water where the floats on top kept it just under the surface. Jim came back out, suited up and carrying his tank. Silver went and took it from him, helping him into it while Ross got the spear gun. Jim was pulling his gloves on. He went over to the side and Silver gave him a hand into the cage. He had his mask in one hand and Ross watched him spit into it. 

‘Fuck.’ He looked up. ‘Cotton mouth.’ His dimples flickered briefly, but the smile was anything but happy. He rinsed it in the water and Ross realised he was still wearing his glasses. He reached down and tapped Jim on the head, pointing at them and Jim took them off and handed them up. Ross stuck them in his mouth and exchanged them for the spear gun. Their eyes met and Jim took a deep breath. 

‘If I get out of this, I’m taking a long vacation.’ he declared and Ross smiled. He took the glasses and stuck them in the collar of his t-shirt and then leaned over as far as he could. Jim came up to meet him, the kiss brief but full of unspoken feeling. They separated and looked into each other’s eyes. 

‘How about after we get back we make this an actual thing?’ Ross suggested. ‘You and me? You can come stay in my bed for a month.’

Jim reached up, his gloved hand rough against Ross’ cheek. 

‘You got it, baby.’ He smiled again and fixed his mask and regulator in place, sinking below the water with his spear gun in hand. 

Ross stepped back and together he and Silver slammed the top of the cage shut and then loosened the line so it submerged further, down and down into the water until they couldn’t see it anymore. 

‘I’ll give the little bastard one thing.’ Silver remarked. ‘He’s got balls.’

‘Yeah.’ Ross couldn’t look away from the water. ‘Let’s hope they don’t get him fucking killed.’

**********

Under the water, Jim cleared his mask. The visibility was good, the water a light azure colour. He couldn’t see the shark though and he turned around a few times to check all around him. Overhead, the Orca’s hull was a dark shadow.

Something moved in the distance and Jim focused. Then he made out the shape that was melting out of the blue, the shark coming over to investigate. She was majestic, a gliding monster that made him feel completely insignificant as she got close enough for him to truly appreciate her size. 

Even with the barrels, she was unhindered in her movements. Her powerful tail propelled her forward and she came close enough for Jim to start making out details. Her pectoral fins and side were heavily scarred, a lifetime of battles for dominance and mating. The line between her slate grey back and belly was mottled, her eyes perfect black circles. She seemed completely unafraid of him and Jim kept his eye on her, half of him completely besotted with such an incredible creature and the other half more terrified than he’d ever been in his life. 

He’d swum with plenty of Great Whites and never once had he felt as threatened as he did now. He knew how to read a shark’s body language and everything about her and the way she was moving told him that she was aggressive and just sizing him up. Now the spear gun in his hand and his bright idea to pump her full of toxin seemed idiotic in the extreme. There was no way he was going to get anywhere close enough to shoot.

She came around for a second pass and then he saw it. The wound was enormous and he now knew why she was probably taking easy prey. It was clearly a bite, the tell-tale shape of the massive bite mark on her underside exposing pink flesh underneath. Jim could see that it was festering, not even the constant flow of salt water stopping the onset of infection. Two things sped through his mind. The first was that he was amazed that she was even still alive. The second was that whatever had taken a bite out of her was even bigger than she was and that thought alone made his blood run cold. 

*********

On the boat, Ross and Silver watched the shark circling the cage. 

‘She’s getting a good look at him.’ Silver observed. ‘This is good. She’s distracted.’ He reached for the gaff. ‘We can tie off the ropes. Once she comes in close enough, Hawkins can spear her and let that gunk of his get to work.’ He nodded at the cleats on the transom. ‘When she does, you wind the ropes around those, Chief. Make sure she won’t be able to get loose.’

Ross felt like tying a very large and very dangerous animal to their only means on survival was a terrible idea. He wanted to say something, but then let it go. After all, he was as far from being an expert as it was possible to be.

‘Thankfully, Silver seemed to realise this. 

‘Shit.’ He pointed. ‘She’s going to get herself tangled like this.’ He waved a hand at the wheelhouse. ‘Go get me the machete that’s above the chart table.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Ross asked and Silver nodded at the ropes. 

‘If she gets caught up, she could pull us and Hawkins down with her.’ He was already hooking the floating coil of rope nearest him up. ‘I need to cut her loose.’

‘But then she’ll get away.’ Ross protested. 

‘It’s that or risk sinking, Chief.’ Silver was dry. ‘Your choice.’

Ross huffed and went to grab the machete. He came back with it and handed it over. Silver was quick, hacking at each rope in turn. The barrels floated loose and drifted a little way from them, bobbing on the water like oversized rubber ducks.

**********

Jim was concerned. He could see the way the shark was dragging the barrels after her and knew it risked the shark getting fouled and then dragging the boat down. 

As if they had heard his thoughts, the tension in the ropes suddenly went slack and then they came trailing down around her, clearly cut away. The lack of buoyancy from the barrels seemed to startle the shark and she instantly turned, vanishing into the blue until he could no longer see her. 

He kept watch, peering through his mask to try and track her but it was impossible to see where she’d gone. 

**********

‘Where the hell is she?’ Ross was leaning on the rail. His heart was now pounding. He’d been all right as long as he could see the shark but now there was no sign of her. 

‘She’s a smart girl.’ Silver’s eyes were narrowed, his face tight. ‘Keep an eye out, Chief.’

**********

The attack came from below.

Jim had been so preoccupied with trying to look out into the blue that he’d completely neglected everything he knew about how Great Whites hunted and the next thing, the cage was being shunted from underneath. It knocked him around, slamming him into the sides of the cage and making him feel remarkably like he did when he was surfing and got dumped by a wave. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as he hit the side and knew he was cut, the shock of the blow making him drop the spear gun to the bottom of the cage. 

The shark retreated, only to come back again and this time she got the mesh in her teeth, shaking her head violently from side to side. Jim didn’t have time to be afraid, instead he was just trying to keep the regulator between his teeth. He reached down even as she retreated, grabbing the hilt of his dive knife and flattening himself against the cage. It was just in time because the next blow buckled the aluminium frame, the shark wedging her head between the bars. She was snapping wildly, trying to grab him and Jim instinctively lashed out, managing to stab her in the head a few times. Blood fanned up through the water, making it hard to see, and he knew that if he stayed where he was he would be dead for sure. The shark tried to retreat again, but this time she’d come too far into the cage and now she was well and truly stuck. She started thrashing, her massive body writhing and twisting into sinuous curves and the cage went with her. 

All Jim could do was close his eyes and hang on, knowing that he was more than likely dead. 

***********

‘What the fuck is going on down there!’ Ross was frantic. 

‘Goddammit!’ Silver roared and they both tried desperately to get the cage up. The surface of the water over it was churning into white froth and they both knew something had gone terribly wrong. They couldn’t even get hold of the rope long enough to tighten it up and pull up the cage. 

Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. 

Ross froze, still panting with exertion. He met Silver’s black eyes and saw the fear in them. They immediately started the pulley and the cable wound back on, lifting the cage up and out of the water. What they saw had them both stunned into silence.

The cage was battered, the bars pried apart and crumpled in on themselves. There was absolutely no sign of Jim at all. The only thing left of him was the spear gun lying on the bottom of the cage. 

‘Oh God…’ Ross breathed the words, but even as he did there was a terrific splash and the next thing he knew the shark was breaching right out of the water. She landed square on the transom, breaking the wood into splinters and dragging the boat down under her weight. 

‘Chief get clear!’ Silver bellowed and Ross scrambled up the now tilted deck, just managing to grab the edges of the wheelhouse hatch and pull himself inside. Water was flowing up the deck, and Silver was trying to get in behind him. The shark was still where she’d been, her huge jaws snapping and her tail flailing in the water behind her. 

‘Silver!’ Ross had one arm through the wheel. The other he extended and Silver grabbed his hand, hanging on tightly. The bow of the Orca was now out of the water completely, everything sliding past them. 

‘Don’t let go!’ Silver pleaded but it was too late. A final jolt from the thrashing shark knocked his hand from Ross’ grasp and he slid down the deck and into her waiting mouth. His scream was terrible, high pitched and pained as she clamped her teeth down around him. Ross got a final glimpse of terrified eyes and then Silver was gone, dragged under the water and lost forever. 

Ross plastered himself to the wheel, panting in terror and staring as the water came right up the deck. He knew if he didn’t move he would be trapped and drowned. He scouted around for something to use and grabbed the fire extinguisher from its cradle on the bulkhead, using it to break the portholes over the instrument panel. He managed to shatter the window and hauled himself up and out, squeezing through the hole and cutting himself in the process. He crawled along the wheelhouse to the fly bridge, hanging on for dear life and certain that if he looked back he’d see the shark right behind him. 

He got to the mast, now slanting out of the water, and hauled himself along inch by painful inch until he was braced against the crow’s nest. He lay there, battling for breath, and saw the shark coming around behind the corner of the stern that was still sticking out of the water. It was coming his way and she swam right up to the wheelhouse and then rammed into it, shaking Ross around like a leaf. He clung on desperately and she eventually moved away only to turn around and head back. 

Ross knew he was probably going to die, a million thought flashing through his mind. He thought of Izzy and Jeremy and not getting to see them grow up, of Elizabeth and Demelza and how much pain this would cause them. His final thought was for a man he’d barely gotten to know and who he’d loved and lost in only two days. 

It was that thought that made him look up, his fighting spirit kicking in. Jim would want him to go down giving this monster hell and it was then that he saw that one of his tanks was wedged against the frame of the porthole. On impulse he worked his way back down just enough to grab it. Unfortunately the shark saw him coming and she swam over the bow, lunging at him. Ross barely had time to swing the tank with what was left of his strength, hammering it into her snout. She backed off and then tried again, this time managing to grab the tank and puncturing it with her teeth. 

Ross heard the hiss of the compressed gas, but it was now wedged on and the shark shook her head from side to side as she tried to spit it out. Then something pinged in the back of his head, a memory of the previous evening and Jim explaining about his scuba diving. One word leaped out at him from that recalled conversation. 

Hydrogen. Jim’s diving mix contained hydrogen. 

‘Fuck.’ He scrabbled at his waist, unclipping his .45 and taking as tight a grip as he could with his wet hands. He aimed and fired, the shot going wide and the shark still coming.   
Ross fired again and again, but it had little impact. 

‘Show me the tank, you fucking bitch.’ he muttered. ‘Show me the fucking tank.’ He knew from his count that he had three rounds left. 

The shark surged up onto the boat, her weight now submerging even the last part of the wheelhouse and Ross knew this was it. 

‘Come on.’ he breathed. ‘Smile, you bitch!’ He squeezed the trigger and the gun jumped in his hand. The bullet hit the tank, a sharp metallic clink that kicked up the tiniest of sparks.

It was enough.

The tank exploded, a sound that split the air and nearly deafened him. It blew the shark’s head apart, blood and cartilage and teeth showering him and landing in the water like rain. 

‘Yes!’ Ross yelled, every bit of primal survival instinct screaming out at having bested his foe. He fell back against the mast, exhaustion flooding him as he realised that she was not going to be coming back from this. He watched what was left of her bulk sliding under the water and breathed out. 

Something had landed in the water near him and Ross caught at it before it could sink. It cut into his palm and he opened it to see it was a row of four teeth, still embedded in a piece of cartilage. He shoved it in the pocket of his jeans and started to laugh, grief and fear and elation all mixing together. 

He was so caught up he didn’t hear the sound of something moving through the water towards him and the touch on his arm nearly scared him into a heart attack. He yelped in fear and then stared in disbelief as he looked into blue-green eyes that were filled with the same feelings he was being overwhelmed by. He laughed again, this time in delight and grabbed Jim by the back of the neck and hauled him into a bruising kiss that he never wanted to end. 

Jim kissed him back, holding on just as tightly. When they finally let each other go, his eyes were questioning. 

‘Silver?’ he asked and Ross shook his head. 

‘No.’ The word felt like lead on his tongue. 

‘Fuck.’ Jim breathed out. They hung onto each other for a few more moments and then Ross watched as a barrel floated past them. 

‘This boat is sinking.’ He observed and Jim snorted a laugh. 

‘Yeah.’ He looked around him. ‘It is.’

‘Can we get on those?’ Ross asked, nodding at the barrel. The brilliant smile he got gave him his answer. 

*********

They rigged up a crude floatation device, tying a barrel on each end to give them buoyancy. Then they draped themselves over the wooden planking and kicked their way home.

‘How the fuck did you get away?’ Ross asked, every muscle in his body burning. 

‘Swum out under her.’ Jim explained. ‘Got to the sea floor and hid under a rock.’ He chuckled. ‘Fucking longest twenty minutes of my life.’ He smiled at Ross. ‘I was so fucking happy to see her come down.’

‘Yeah.’ Ross frowned. ‘Say, what day is it?’ 

‘Um, Monday. No, it’s Tuesday. Maybe.’ Jim sounded bemused. ‘Why?’

‘Think the tide’s with us?’ Ross asked and Jim grinned. 

‘Just keep kicking.’ he instructed. In front of them, the island was almost in reach. Ross could see people walking on the beach and imagined just what a surprise they would have seeing two bedraggled assholes coming ashore on a couple of barrels. 

‘You know, I used to hate the water.’ he remarked and now Jim burst out laughing. 

‘I can’t imagine why.’ he replied.

Epilogue

The sea swept in along the California coastline, waves rolling in in a way that they never did on Amity. The Hawkins house turned out to be a cosy timber clad lodge, nestled high up on the Sonoma coastline and the room Ross was currently occupying had a magnificent view of the beach below. Not that he ever did anything but walk along it. He’d made a vow to never go in the water again and he stuck to it. It was just a pity that the man he now called his fiancé didn’t feel the same. 

He stretched and sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking out at the deck that ran along the length of Jim’s bedroom. He spotted a familiar figure and got up, strolling naked through the doors and outside. Rose and Rob were away in Europe so he and Jim had the whole place to themselves and the week had been very much clothing optional. 

Jim turned to him as he approached, his blue-green eyes bright. Ross returned it, looking at the gleaming white tooth set in silver that hung around his neck and which was a twin of his own. He’d had them made for their engagement, thinking it a lot more symbolic of what they had gone through together. The other two teeth had received the same treatment and were waiting for Izzy and Jeremy to be old enough to wear them. 

The past six months had been a whirlwind but now as he looked at the man he’d asked to marry him only three short months after they’d nearly lost their lives together, Ross knew he was right where he was supposed to be. He took Jim’s face in his hands and kissed him, every part of him filled with happiness that he got to do this most days of the year. When he let Jim go, he got a beautiful dimpled smile. 

‘Morning, Chief.’ Jim nosed at him. ‘You feel like going on the water today? It’s going to be gorgeous.’

‘Fuck no.’ Ross retorted and dragged him back to bed.


End file.
